Friends First
by BackstabberEm
Summary: It's taken seven years, but Lily and James finally learn to get along. But someone gets in the way... Will everything work out in the end? COMPLETE!
1. I want him, I want her

**_Friends First  
Chapter 1_**

**_As you can see, I love LJ fics...in fact, that's all that I've ever written! So here's another. Anything you don'trecognize belongs to me, everything else belongs to JK Rowling (who I bet is having a hard time writing and editing her next two books because of the new baby!)_**

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"Well if it isn't the hottest ladies at Hogwarts," a voice teased. It was the first day of seventh year, and they were all standing around in the courtyard.

Lily whirled around and sighed. "Hi Sirius."

"No, no. Then _you _say, well if it isn't the sexiest guy alive," Sirius said with a goofy grin.

"But I don't see Snape anywhere around," Lily's best friend, Kerri, joked.

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed, obviously offended by the comment.

"Where are your partners in crime?" Millie, another friend of Lily's, asked.

"Who knows?" Sirius said with a shrug. "Probably hexing someone."

"Ugh," Lily groaned under her breath.

"Did you say something Evans?" Sirius asked, with a fake sweet voice.

"No, of cours-"

"Lily!" a voice cried from behind. Lily turned around and grinned from ear to ear.

"Hey Remus!" Lily said, embracing him in a hug. "Now Remus, answer me this. Why do you hang out with Hogwart's most arrogant boys?"

Remus laughed. "I do it just to annoy you."

"That's odd…because we try to annoy Evans with everything _we _do," another voice said, joining the group.

"Oh good…it's Potter," Lily groaned out sarcastically.

"Don't try and contain your excitement," James mumbled.

"Hey guys. It's seventh year…you think maybe _this _will be the year you guys finally get along?"

"No," Lily said quickly.

"Whoa, could we answer any faster there Lils?" Sirius asked.

"Ugh, for the last time Black. My name is _Lily_. Only my _friends _call me Lils."

"Okay Lils," Sirius said and James couldn't help but laugh.

"You guys torturing the girls again?" Peter asked, joining the group.

"Yeah, you'd think they'd get bored after six years….but nope," Mandy, Lily's other good friend, answered.

"Bored? Ha!" Sirius exclaimed.

"We spent all summer coming up with new ways to mess around with you four," James responded.

"Oh my gosh," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"What? What?" James asked.

Sirius pointed at someone. "Look at Rebekka Jenson…"

James and Peter quickly turned their bodies and looked in her direction.

James gave a low whistle. "She looks damn good this year. The summer did wonders on her."

"Ugh, you guys are such _pigs_," Lily exclaimed.

"Oh don't worry Lily; the summer did wonders on you too. You look pretty damn good too," James teased.

"Oh really? Because I think the summer made your head much bigger…do you even fit through doors anymore?" Lily asked in disgust as her friends let out a laugh.

"Okay…well as much fun as being ridiculed is…I'm going to go mingle with girls who actually _want _me," James replied.

"Good luck finding any that you haven't _dated _already!" Lily called out after him.

Remus just shook his head, "Why can't you two get along?"

"Because that would mean the world is falling apart," Lily mumbled. He shook his head again in Lily's direction and followed James. Peter followed Remus.

"Well, ladies, as nice as it was to see you. I will be following the guys…and perhaps I'll run into Rebekka on the way," Sirius said.

"_Bye _Black_,"_ Lily urged, just wanting him to leave.

Sirius just rolled his eyes, winked in the direction of her friends, and left.

Kerri moaned and leaned up against a wall. "I want him so bad."

The other three girls exchanged looks and burst out laughing. They've gotten used to Kerri whining about Sirius. "Yeah? So does every other girl at Hogwarts," Mandy stated with a laugh.

"Not me," Lily insisted.

"Well that's because you and James are destined for each other," Millie pointed out.

"Ugh, don't make me gag," Lily mumbled.

"Oh come on. It's _so _obvious that he wants you. Every witch and wizard knows that…every _professor _knows that. Hell, even Ms. _Norris _knows that," Millie explained.

"Yeah…so?" Lily asked. "Let's go back to talking about Kerri."

"He's just so cute, and buff, and sweet, and-" Kerri started.

"-and arrogant, and immature, and _way _too good for you," Lily finished.

Kerri sighed. "I know, I know."

"Hey, not to sound too much like the Marauders but…look at Jackson Hilton," Mandy interrupted.

All four girls turned to look at a much tanner, leaner, more muscular, blond haired, gorgeous Jackson Hilton.

"I'd do him any day," Millie said with a low whistle.

"Hate to say it…but he looks _good_," Lily mumbled under her breath.

"Well you better watch out, because James doesn't look too thrilled," Kerri said, darting her eyes over at James. James eyes were focused in on the girls. More particular, his eyes were focused in on _Lily. _

"Well, then he won't be too happy when I do this," Lily said, as she saw Jackson walking over to them. "Well hello there," Lily said, batting her eyelashes at Jackson.

"Hey Lily," Jackson said, giving Lily a hug. Kerri just rolled her eyes, and walked over to the Marauders.

ACROSS THE WAY:

"I don't get what everyone sees in that Jackson guy," James said, not taking his eyes off of Lily and Jackson talking.

"Probably the same thing everyone sees in _you _Prongs," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"_And _you," Remus reminded Sirius.

"Nice bod, easy to flirt with, and _great _to screw," a girl said from behind them. The guys turned around to see Kerri standing there.

"Is that what you think of me dear Kerri?" Sirius asked.

"Actually no, I was referring to Jackson," Kerri teased. There was no way in hell she would ever let Sirius know she wanted him.

"Oh come on," Sirius said, flashing her his award winning smile. "You don't see _something _good about me?"

Kerri hesitated, trying to think of the right words. "Well…I _guess _you can be sweet at times... and somehow, it makes girls fall for you."

"Girls? Or _you_?" Sirius taunted.

"Get real," Kerri said with a playful laugh, and then she walked away.

"I want her so bad," Sirius mumbled.

"Nuh uh…._no way_," Remus insisted.

"What?"

"She's a _friend_. You'll make out with her, fuck her, and then never want to see her again. And that will just create too much drama in this group dynamic we have," Remus said.

"Oh we don't have a _group_," Sirius said. "We aren't friends, we're just all acquaintances. And let me tell you, I want to be better acquainted with Kerri Miller."

"You want to be better acquainted with her _body_," James corrected. The four boys laughed, as Sirius longingly watched Kerri walk away, not hiding the fact that he was watching her ass.

* * *

"Isn't life great?" James asked, practically skipping into the common's room a week later.

"I can't argue with that," Sirius said with a smile.

"This is gonna be hell," Remus mumbled.

"Oh, you working with Kerri and Sirius can't possible be _hell_," James said.

"This project is worth like _half our grade_. And I'm gonna have to deal with 'I want you,' 'no I want you,' the entire time," Remus mumbled.

"Oh we don't act like that," Sirius insisted. Remus just raised his eyebrows at Sirius, but didn't say anything.

"I can't believe I get to work with Lily for an entire month," James said with a smile.

"Didn't you hear who your other partner was? Dude, it's not gonna be that great," Sirius said.

"What? No, I didn't hear. I was too busy imaging Lily and I together for an entire month," James said.

Remus, Sirius, and Peter exchanged glances. "Um…your other partner is Jackson."

"_What!_" James exclaimed. "You just made my mood go from a 10 to a negative 3." James plopped down on the couch.

"So far, I'm thinking Peter got the best group," Remus said.

"Yeah! You got two _girls_," Sirius said.

"Yeah, Millie and Mandy who are joined at the hip. They'll ignore me completely," Peter said.

The boys just sat there in silence for a little while. "Our lives suck," James mumbled after a few seconds.

"What's wrong boys? Get turned down by girls?" Mandy asked, sitting down on a couch besides them.

James ignored her. "I know what we should do to keep our spirits high," James said with an evil grin. 'We need to play the coolest prank ever."

"Oh wow, have sadder words been uttered?" Lily mumbled.

"Yes," Sirius said. "I think they went something like, let's name her Lily."

Lily clenched her fists. "Why do we always have to sit with them?" Lily moaned.

"Get used to it, you'll be working close to me for the next month," James said.

"I just got that out of my _head_. Thanks for bringing it up," Lily muttered.

"Anytime sweet che-"

"If you call me anything but Lily, I will _personally _hurt you," Lily said.

"Jeez, who made you ice princess?" Sirius mumbled.

"Go to hell," Lily murmured.

"You guys all _really _need to learn to get along," Remus noted.

Sirius ignored Remus. "What's wrong with _her_?"

Kerri shrugged. "The usual…you and James."

Sirius smiled. "Well then, our job is done."

"…for today," James finished.

"Can't you guys learn to be _nice _for once?" Mandy wondered.

Sirius and James exchanged looks and burst out laughing.

"Hmm…I'd take that as a no," Remus answered.

"James, you'd think that you'd be nicer to her since you like her," Millie said.

"_Like _her? Ha!" James exclaimed.

"Oh come _on. _You're always asking her for dates, teasing her, smiling at her," Millie explained.

"Yeah as a _joke_. It's a running joke between Lily and I that's been going on for many years now. I'm surprised you haven't realized that," James said, knowing flat out he was lying. "The day I like Lily is the day…well, is the day Sirius actually commits to someone."

"Hey! Don't bring me into this," Sirius insisted.

"You were brought into it the minute you became his best friend," Peter warned.

"Oh yeah…" Sirius said slowly and then turned to James. "I want out."

"Out?" James asked.

"Yup, out of the friendship," Sirius teased. "Is it too late?"

"Uh _yeah_, seventeen _years _too late," James pointed out.

"Damn…I've been putting up with you for seventeen years?" Sirius asked. "I need a life."

James threw a pillow at him and then gazed over at the entrance, hoping Lily would come back.

"So Kerri, you glad to be working on this project with me?" Sirius asked flirtatiously.

"Oh yeah, it's every girls _dream_ to work on a project with you," Kerri teased, but it made Sirius smile. "Which means that it's every girls dream to fail the project."

"Hey! I can get work done," Sirius insisted.

"Let me just say that it's a good thing Remus is working with us," Kerri said, smiling at Remus.

Remus groaned. "I can't believe I got stuck with you two."

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**_Just a brief overview at first...more to come._**


	2. Getting it out of his System

**_Friends First  
Chapter 2_**

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"Okay, we're here doing work and it's a Friday night…does anyone _else _see a problem with this?" James groaned, sitting in a chair across from Lily.

"The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can get away from _you_," Lily grumbled.

"I'm sensing some hostility between you two," Jackson said. "Are you two gonna be able to get along? Because this is worth a very big part of our grade."

"We'll manage," Lily said through gritted teeth.

"So…what's the plan?" James asked Lily.

"What plan?"

"The plan that we're gonna follow in order to get a lot of work done on this project resulting in a high grade," James explained.

"I don't have a plan. I figured we'd get together and discuss a plan," Lily said.

James just looked at Lily. "You not having a plan is like me…well it's like me not having any hair. Never will it ever happen. So cough up the plan."

Lily looked at James for a little bit, then gazed over at Jackson, and took out a piece of parchment and placed it on the table.

Jackson looked at James in awe. "Wow, you know her pretty damn well."

"Lily is very predictable," James said with a shrug, not wanting to make conversation with a guy he wasn't too fond of.

"Ooookay. No need to talk about me as if I'm not here," Lily interrupted.

"So should we just get books on our topic, take notes, and then compile our notes together?" Jackson asked.

"Oh no…you want to follow Lily's plan word for word," James explained.

"Shut up. We can do whatever Jackson wants," Lily said with a shrug.

"Okay, and if I suggested it we could do that too?"

"No," Lily said quickly. "Then we'd be doing it _my _way."

"It looks like what I said is the first thing on your list anyway," Jackson said, reading her plan.

"Ha! So you _would _have had o do it my way," James pointed out.

"Yes but see, you didn't suggest anything, _Jackson _did."

"How about we just get going with this project huh?" Jackson asked, not wanting to hear them bicker.

"And what if I want to decided what exactly we're going to write for this paper first…instead of getting books on our topic first?" James asked.

"Then I'd ignore you," Lily said.

"Well I don't think that's very fair," James said. "Our group will fall apart if you don't try to listen to me."

"The only reason _you _don't want to get books out yet is so you can contradict me," Lily said, raising her voice. "You want to start an argument about _everything_."

"_No. _I just don't see why _you _think _you're _in charge," James exclaimed.

"GUYS!" Jackson shouted. "How about we talk about what we're going to do on this project _while _we get books out?"

James and Lily both glared at each other, but didn't say anything.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Jackson mumbled.

* * *

"Hey guys," Sirius said, walking into the library an hour later. 

Lily looked up and groaned. "Go away Black. We're trying to get work done."

"It's a free country," Sirius sneered back.

"Okay, why don't you live in this free country _somewhere _else?" Lily asked.

"Where do you suppose I do that?"

"I don't care. At that table over there, in your dorm room. Hell, in a _ditch _for all I care. Just _not here_," Lily insisted.

"You don't get along with many people do you," Jackson stated.

"Not with arrogant, two-timing, womanizing _prats_ like these two," Lily pointed out.

"Nah, Lily loves us. She just doesn't like to admit it," James said.

Lily mumbled something angrily, which obviously was not meant to be heard by anyone.

"Hey guys…what's Sirius doing in a _library_?" Kerri asked, walking in then.

"Hardy har har," Sirius said, giving her a smug look.

"I think the real question is, what is he doing bothering us," Lily pointed out.

"Come along Sirius, let's allow them to get some work done," Kerri said. "Maybe _their _group can actually get a good grade."

"Aww, but I don't _wanna _leave," Sirius whined, trying to resist Kerri pulling his arm.

"If you leave now, I'll do anything you want…" Kerri joked.

Sirius followed her. "Okay…but beware, it will involve no clothes."

Jackson laughed and Lily just glared at him to stop and James rolled his eyes.

"That's not funny…she was actually being serious," James pointed out.

"Oh…" Jackson said. "Really?"

James rolled his eyes. "No…I'm completely lying," James said sarcastically.

"Whoa…no need to be mean about it," Jackson said, shrugging his shoulder.

"Oh yeah, and you tell me _I _can't get along with anyone," Lily mumbled.

"Hey it's not my fault James has a problem with me," Jackson pointed out.

"I didn't say I had a problem with you," James said.

"How about we go back to working? At least that way it's silent," Lily said. Jackson and James just shrugged and did what she said.

* * *

"Ugh! I can't stand him," Lily mumbled, plopping on her bed a few hours later. 

"James?" Kerri asked, coming out of the bathroom

"Duh, who else," Millie replied, looking up from her essay.

"He can't even sit _still _for two minutes," Lily groaned. "And what's with him always running his hands through his hair? Does he think he makes him look _cool? _And ugh! He's so mean to Jackson…what the hell did Jackson ever do to him? And what about his note taking ability? How the hell does he get good grades when he writes one word down after reading three or four pages? Is his hand _broken _or something?"

"Lily you're rambling," Kerri pointed out.

"What's worse is that you're rambling about _James_," Millie explained.

"I know, I know," Lily mumbled. "He just gets to me so much."

"We can see that," Mandy pointed out.

Lily sat up, leaning on her elbow, and turned to Kerri. "So, how'd your day with Black go? And how many layers of clothing did he make you take off?" Lily asked.

"Oh wow, _here's _a story I need to hear," Millie said.

"No piece of my clothing was taken off," Kerri said with a laugh. "Although he _did _want to go skinny dipping in the lake."

"And you said _no?_" Lily asked.

"Well yeah! That lake is _freezing_," Kerri said, "We just took a walk around it."

"For three hours?" Lily asked.

Kerri shrugged.

"There is _so _something your not telling us," Mandy explained.

Kerri's face broke out into a huge grin. "He kissed me!"

"_No!_"

"Yep!" Kerri cried out. "Although, you know Sirius. It was probably just a random hook up."

* * *

"I kissed Kerri," Sirius said proudly, walking into the guy's room. 

"You did not," Remus groaned out.

"Yep," Sirius said with a grin. "But you know Kerri's reputation. It's probably just been awhile since she's been with a guy and she was ready to make out with anyone…and I was the guy she happened to be with."

"Well you know, Sirius…that's _your _reputation too," Peter noted.

Sirius paused. "Oh yeah."

"Ugh, that guy bugs me," James mumbled, walking into the room.

"But James…Evans is a _girl_," Sirius teased.

"Ha ha," James said. "I mean _Jackson_. I feel like he has a hidden agenda by being so nice to Lily. It just…bothers me."

"Oh you're just annoyed that Lily's nice to him but bitches _you _out," Remus said.

"No, I'm really not," James insisted. "I mean, yes that bothers me. But I think he's up to no good."

"Well get used to him, because you'll be working with him for an entire month," Peter stated.

James flopped back on his bed, hitting the back of his head on his pillow.

* * *

"Okay, so you say Jennika is a _good _kisser?" Peter asked James, as they sat in the commons room with many other Gryffindors. 

"Let's just say that girl learned to kiss from a _goddess_," Sirius said.

"Oh good," Peter said.

"Why?" James asked.

"Because I have a date with her tomorrow night," Peter said.

"You're _kidding," _James said, mouth dropping wide open.

Peter shrugged. "Somehow I got courage over the summer."

"Okay, I _seriously _need to get a date soon," James muttered.

"Well then I think it's time to forget Lily, because it's obvious _she _won't ever agree to a date," Sirius said.

James threw a pillow in his face. "Maybe I'll ask Rebekka out…"

"You _wouldn't_," Sirius exclaimed. "_I _was going to!"

"What about Kerri?" Remus wondered.

"I haven't really talked to her for the past four days so I figured she's on to her next boy toy," Sirius said with a shrug.

"And I see _you're _on you _your _next girl toy," Remus said rolling his eyes.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"Well, you're about to move on to Rebekka…so what does it matter if Kerri moves on?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I guess it _doesn't _matter anymore."

"Well, how about you move on to _anyone _but Rebekka," James offered.

"I saw her first!" Sirius exclaimed.

"Oh. my. god," Remus said slowly and shockingly. "You're talking about her as if she was the last piece of meat left on the plate."

"It's no wonder Lily won't accept a date from you-" Peter said to James and then Peter turned to look at Sirius. "-and Kerri won't take _you _seriously when you kiss her."

Sirius and James looked at each other. "I think they're insulting us."

"Insulting us, they are," James confirmed.

"Hello boys," Rebekka said, walking by then and waving with her fingers. She batted her eyelashes and walked away, swaying her ass back and forth.

James gave a low whistle. "If there's one thing God did right…it's her."

Sirius laughed and slapped high fives with James.

"You guys are pigs," Remus mumbled, looking down at his book.

"You're starting to sound like Lily," James said.

"And Kerri," Sirius added. "And Millie and Mandy."

"So basically I'm starting to sound like a _girl_…" Remus clarified.

"Oh," Sirius stated. "Right."

"Well you guys should like that then, because all you ever talk about is girls and all you ever want to be around are girls," Remus noted.

"Yes, but if _you're _a girl, then you're a pretty ugly one," James said and Remus threw a pillow in his face.

"So Remus, what's _your _love life like these days?" Sirius asked.

"Oh it's _so_ exciting_," _Remus said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "I mean, being a werewolf helps me get _all _the ladies." Remus gave Sirius a look as if he was even crazy to ask how his love life was.

"Well you don't have to _tell _them," Sirius said, defending his question.

"Because lying is a good way to start off every good relationship," Remus said mockingly. "Ooooh…_now _I get why you guys haven't had a relationship longer than a minute."

"Hey! We don't _lie_," Sirius said.

"We just don't tell them things," James added with a shrug.

"And in return, you learn nothing about them either," Peter said.

"Like their names," Remus added.

"I know all…okay most…okay _some_….of the names of the girl's I've hooked up with," Sirius claimed.

"Okay, my _point _is-" Remus started, but he never got to tell his friends what his point was.

"Well hel-_lo_ there," Sirius interrupted as Kerri and Millie walked into the room.

"Why do I bother talking to you guys when there are _girls _distracting you?" Remus mumbled. "Hey Kerri! Millie! Get over here!" Remus called out, and then mumbled to his friends, "Before Sirius's tongue falls out of his mouth."

Kerri and Millie shrugged their shoulders and came over to sit by the boys. "So, where's Lily and Mandy?"

"No idea where Millie is," Kerri said but then turned to James. "But Lily is in the library supposedly meeting her group members for the project."

James's eyes grew wide. "Crap!" And then he practically flew out of there.

* * *

"So, is James coming?" Jackson asked, as Lily and him were sitting there for ten minutes. 

"He probably forgot," Lily mumbled. "But whatever. So, how are you?"

"I'm good," Jackson said with a shrug. "I'm kind of glad summer ended and that we got to come back to Hogwarts."

"Oh definitely," Lily said. "Me too."

"So hey, a Hogsmeade weekend should be coming up and I was wond-" Jackson started.

"Sorry I'm late!" James exclaimed, rushing into the library. "Professor McGonagall stopped me in the hallway."

"You and I both know that's not true," Lily muttered. She glanced over at Jackson who was just staring out the door. "Okay, so…I guess we should get started. I'll go get some books."

"I'll help," James offered.

"I don't need your help," Lily protested

"You can't carry all the books we need by yourself," James said, and he got up and followed Lily before she could object again.

James followed her through the stacks. "Potter! There's no need to _follow _me. The books aren't all in the same place. And I don't want you _around _me."

"Jeez, what the hell crawled up _your _ass?" James muttered.

Lily sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she mumbled. "You just have awful timing."

"Huh? What did _I _do?"

"Jackson was about…" Lily stopped, realizing who she was about to talk to. "Forget it, nothing. I'm just in a bad mood."

"Evans, you seem to _always _be in a bad mood," James noted.

"You think you know me Potter, but you actually know _nothing _about me," Lily snapped, getting angry again.

"Oh yeah? I bet I know more than you think," James tested.

"Oh, like _what?_"

"Well, I know that ever since your parents died last year, you've shut down completely. You broke up with what's-his-face, you became testy and irritable, and you've been just plain _mean_," James explained.

Lily gaped at James for a second, but then narrowed her eyes. "I'm only mean to people that de_serve _it."

"Hey! I haven't done _one _thing to you," James protested.

"No, but you're an egotistical, womanizing, hot-headed _jerk_ who I feel isn't worthy enough to see the _good _side of me," Lily snapped, and then started walking away.

"Whoa," James murmured, obviously a little hurt "I didn't realize you felt _that _strong about this."

Lily shrugged, not turning around so therefore not noticing that she hurt James's feelings. "Yeah well, I have a lot of pent up anger considering you haven't stopped _bothering _me since the first day of our first year," Lily snarled.

James looked down at his feet. "Well…then I'll stop bothering you."

Lily stopped dead, almost making James ram into her. "What?"

"If you feel that strongly about this, I'll leave you alone," James said with a shrug.

"What do you mean?" Lily asked warily.

"I won't make crude comments, I won't ask you out for the hundredth time, I won't say anything to you. I'll leave you alone," James said sincerely. "I mean, I'll still have to see you being that you're in my group for this project, and we have classes together, and our friends are friends. But that doesn't mean I have to _talk _to you."

"Oh," Lily said. "Right, yeah, sure." Lily wasn't sure what James was up to, but she has a feeling she wasn't going to like it.

James smiled and then shrugged. "I guess we should get these books. "If we leave Jackson alone, he might get enough personality to get alone with my _quill_."

"Oh wow, that whole not bothering me, not saying crude comments lasted a whole _second_," Lily muttered.

"Hey," James said with a smile and a shrug. "I had to get it out of my system." And to his surprise _and _her surprise, she laughed.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

**_Ugh, I have a macro test Monday...can anyone say F? haha. So, if i don't post for a few days, it's because I'm surrounding myself with graphs, tables, and supply and demand curves._**


	3. Napkin Fights and Verbal Fights

**_Friends First  
Chapter 3_**

Oops...did I say it would take me awhile to post? I didn't mean it. I SHOULD _be studying for macro but writing and posting seemed more fun...and I wasright. You can see what my priorities are.  
_  
>>>>>>>>>>>>

"He _said _that?" Kerri asked, the next morning at breakfast.

"And you be_lieved _him?" Millie asked.

"Something about how he said it made me believe him," Lily said, sticking some eggs in her mouth.

"I am fascinated in how this will turn out," Mandy claimed.

"How _what _will turn out?" Lily asked. "It's not a thing or a proposition. It's just how we're gonna live our lives from now on."

"That boy is madly in love with you. There is _no _way he'd gonna stop bothering you and leave you alone," Kerri said.

"Well at least I'm not sitting here wondering if the kiss we had meant anything," Lily snapped referring to Kerri and Sirius.

"I'm not wondering. I _know_ that it didn't," Kerri confirmed.

"I don't get you two," Lily said, shaking her head. "If you guys like each other, why do you ignore that and keep moving on to new people?"

"Because it's obvious Sirius _doesn't _like me and why get hung up on one person? It's easier to just move from guy to guy," Kerri said, taking a bite of toast.

"You _sound_ like a guy," Millie mumbled.

"Probably because she's been with too many of them," Mandy joked. Kerri threw a napkin in her face.

"Food fight?" Remus asked, sitting down beside Lily.

"Just a napkin fight as of now," Kerri answered.

"Just wait til these two dig in," Remus muttered as he saw Sirius and James walk in. "Food seems to end of everywhere but their mouths." The girls laughed as Sirius and James sat down.

"What's so funny?" Sirius asked, scooping food onto his plate.

"You guys," Mandy answered.

Sirius turned to James. "I think they're laughing at us."

"And I think you're right," James responded, taking a sip of orange juice.

* * *

"Can you believe it?" Sirius asked, walking into the room and plopping down on the chair.

"Believe what?" James asked.

"Remus made us work for two _hours_ straight," Sirius said, obviously exhausted.

"Oh yeah, the horror. Having to _work_," Lily muttered from a few desks away.

"I wasn't _talking _to you Evans," Sirius snapped.

"Well I'm sorry, but you talk so loudly, _Egypt _can hear," Lily muttered.

"Look _Evans_, you can insult me all you want, _if _I'm talking to you. But mind your own _business _if I come into a room to talk to my _friend_."

"It's not like your conversations _mean _anything," Lily snapped. "It's either about food, girls, or pranks…or about how your two _lazy _to work for two hours straight."

Sirius clenched his fists and turned to look at James. "Help me out here…she's being unreasonable."

James shook his head. "You're on your own."

Sirius's mouth dropped wide open. "You're on _her _side?"

"_No_," James insisted. "You don't see me _helping _her do you?"

"Okay, '_her' _is in the room," Lily announced.

"Yeah, and since when did I give a damn?" Sirius snarled. Lily left in a huff and Sirius turned to James. "What the hell was _that?"_

"What?" James asked.

"That whole you're on your own thing. Since when was _that _the case?" Sirius asked.

"Since I realized I was too old to be fighting with her. And I have too much dignity to keep going after the same girl. I've called it quits. Lily Evans is going to end up with some other guy…and I'm okay with that," James said with a shrug.

"Okay _first _of all, just because you're giving up on her, _doesn't _mean you can leave me hanging and _second _of all there is no way in hell you're okay with Lily ending up with another guy."

James sighed. "Okay, it sucks, but it's obvious there's no way I'll ever have a chance with Lily…she made that perfectly clear. So I told her I'd stop bothering her and leave her alone completely."

Remus walked in just then. Sirius called out, "Hey Moony, get this! James thinks he can leave Lily alone for good!"

Remus looked over at James and burst out laughing. "_That'll _be the day."

"I'm being _serious_," James said stubbornly.

"No way, you _have _to be joking," Remus said, sitting down on the couch. "Hey Peter!" Remus called out, as Peter came down from the boy's dorm. "Guess what? James thinks he can stop bothering Lily for good!"

Peter looked at James and erupted into laughter.

James pouted. "I have a feeling no one takes me seriously."

* * *

"Okay, do you see where this paragraph will fit in?" Lily asked Jackson a few days later.

"Yeah…but why wouldn't it be in the introduction?" Jackson asked.

"Because the introduction is just a brief overview Jackson," James said, rolling his eyes and _trying _to be nice. "This paragraph gets into details."

"Okay…I guess that makes sense," Jackson said with a shrug.

"So should we try and write another paragraph with the information we still have left, or get more books and start researching the next few paragraphs?" Lily asked.

"What do you think?" James asked.

Lily was taken aback by that answer. She was surprised he didn't come up with some annoying retort. "Oh, well…I don't think we have enough information for another paragraph, so how about we get some more books out."

"That works," James said with a shrug.

"I have Quidditch practice soon, so I should be heading back," Jackson announced.

"Oh right! Sorry," Lily said as she watched Jackson gather his things. "Have fun."

Jackson just waved and left the library.

"Do you want to continue working?" James asked.

Lily looked at him cautiously. "You know, you've really surprised me."

"With what?"

"Your attitude lately," Lily said, shrugging. "I mean, I have to admit, I had my doubts when you said you'd stop bothering me. But you didn't snap at Jackson earlier when he didn't understand and you didn't tell me my ideas were bad…in fact, you _asked _me what I thought was best."

"Hey, I told you I was going to leave you alone," James said. "I meant it."

Lily smiled. "I can see that."

"I'm starving, do you want to head down to dinner?" James asked.

"Now?" Lily asked. "Isn't it kind of early…none of our other friends will be there."

"That's true," James said with a shrug.

Lily looked at James and smiled. "Who needs them? Let's go," Lily offered, and gathered up her books.

* * *

"I didn't know you guys were _that _mean," Lily said. "Did Snape really deserve to be turned pink for two whole days?"

James shrugged. "He got in the way."

"I guess that's what you would say when you hexed me, huh?" Lily asked.

James laughed. "The thing I liked about you was that you had the nerve to hex us _back_."

"Only for a little while, until it got _old_," Lily said.

"It never got old to us Marauders," James teased.

"Oh believe me, I noticed that," Lily said.

"Hey James," Sirius said and then looked over at Lily. "Evans."

"Black," Lily said coldly.

"I _really_ wish we could all get along," Remus said, shaking his head disappointedly.

"Well tell your _friend _over here to shrink his head a little," Lily mumbled.

"And tell Evans over here to get her head out of her ass," Sirius muttered.

"Ugh! You're so-" Lily started.

"Hey guys," Kerri interrupted just then. Lily and Sirius just mumbled a hello.

"Why didn't you come back up to the room after your project Lily? We were waiting for you before we came down for dinner," Millie said.

"Sorry Mil, James and I came here together from the library," Lily said, pointing to their books.

"_James?_" Sirius asked, referring to the fact that Lily just called him by his _first _name.

"_Together?_" Mandy exclaimed.

"Okay, what the hell is up with you two?" Kerri asked.

"What are you talking about?" Lily asked.

"You just called James by his first name, you came here _just _the two of you, you haven't been arguing…what the hell is going on?" Kerri asked.

"Nothing," Lily insisted.

"Hey, you guys keep telling us to get along, so here we are…attempting to do so," James said.

"Well could you do me a favor?" Sirius asked. "_Stop_."

"Stop _what?_" Lily asked.

"Getting along," Sirius said. "Because it's sickening to see you guys smiling at each other and not fighting."

"You're just mad because you're best friend can understand that I'm a nice person but _you _can't," Lily snarled.

"He didn't say you were nice, all her merely said was that he would stop bothering you," Sirius sneered back. "So basically he ran out of ways to _torture _you and decided to give up. He doesn't like you, and never did James say you were a _nice person_."

Lily was about to shout something back, but she stopped. She realized that Sirius was right.

"Yeah, but-" James started.

"You are _really _starting to annoy me Black! You don't know how _anyone _thinks so-"

"Look! It doesn't matter okay?" Remus exclaimed. "I've been trying to get those two to act nice to each other and they have, so stop trying to cause a fight Si."

Sirius slumped down in his chair, but decided not to say anything.

It was quiet for a few seconds, so Kerri spoke up. "Don't forget Si, we're meeting in the library after Potions tomorrow."

"What? No, no, you can't," Lily insisted. "_Our _group is meeting at that time."

"It's a big library Lily, we can all be in there at once," Kerri noted.

"No way, neither one of our groups will get _any_ studying done if Sirius and James are in the same room. They have to be at least a mile apart," Lily said.

"Hey! We still work when we're in the same room," Sirius retaliated, just wanting to annoy Lily.

"Oh yeah? What about the huge fiasco during our fifth year in the common's room during OWL's week?" Lily asked. "And then studying for finals last year was a total nightmare. I can't believe you guys think you can study and drink alcohol at the same time. Or that you think playing monkey in the middle with my _binder_ is a good idea."

Sirius and James looked at each other and burst out laughing. "Yeah, you're right. Why do you guys even let Sirius and I _near _each other?" James asked, trying hard to contain his laughter.

"Well, _you _have all Gryffindors, why not study in the common's room?" Lily asked Kerri.

"Because it's too loud and distracting," Remus butt in. "Everyone will be coming in right after the last class of the day and it'll be loud and god _knows _Sirius can't concentrate when it's loud."

"Sirius can't concentrate _period_," Kerri noted.

"Hey, no need to talk about me as if I'm not here," Sirius said with his mouth full.

"How about we just wait til later tomorrow night?" James asked with a shrug. "I mean, those three have hardly started their project. We've already met three times."

Lily hesitated, but then shrugged. "Fine."

>>>>>>>>>>>>

**_Okay, I _reeeeeeeeeally _have to study now. _**


	4. Squeaky Bones vs Pork Chops

_**Friends First  
Chapter 4** _

**Wow, school is soooo not a priority right now...but hey, I was out partying and I figured, why not come back and post a chapter? hehe.**

>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Oh hey," Lily said, coming in the next day. "Where is everybody?"

"Well Remus, Ker, and Si are supposedly getting work done in the library," James said with a shrug. "And I have no idea where the others are, although I suspect they're probably working on the project also."

"So it's just you and me, huh?" Lily asked, not realizing that she was actually nervous about this.

James looked up from his book and smiled. "Yeah…so you can go up to your room and study since no one is around." James went back to reading his book. He was trying really hard not to bother or annoy Lily, and he learned that it wasn't the hardest thing to do.

Lily didn't say or do anything. She just stood there for a few seconds. James sensed this and looked up from his book. "Yes?"

"What do you mean, no one's around? _You're _around," Lily said nervously.

James closed his book. "Are you telling me Lily Evans, that you would rather sit here with me instead of studying for some upcoming test or doing homework?"

Lily shrugged. "There are no upcoming tests. And unlike you, I don't procrastinate, so I have no homework."

"Oh so basically, you're staying here with me because you have nothing else to do?" James teased.

Lily shifted her weight uncomfortably. "Not really," she said with a shrug. "I've got to admit, when you stop bothering me, you're not that annoying."

James laughed. "Well, then let me admit that not bothering you has been the hardest thing I've ever had to do…and Sirius once made me eat mud and worms."

"Ew!" Lily shrieked, sitting down beside James. "That is something I _so _didn't need to know."

"Well there's a lot where that came from," James said with a shrug. "He lost a bet once and I made him fly butt naked around the Quidditch field."

Lily's face turned to utter disgust. "Now _that _is something I never _ever _want to see. Poke my _eyes _out if I ever see Black _naked_. Why do you guys _make _each other do such awful things?"

"It's out best friend pact," James said with a shrug. "Plus, it's not so bad."

"I don't see how your best friends with that guy," Lily muttered. "He's just so…_irritating_."

"Now Lily, that's what you used to think about _me_, but look at you now, having a one on one conversation with me," James said. "Give it time, maybe things with change."

"Things between Black and I will _never _change," Lily said sternly. "That boy is the most arrogant, odious, _egotistical_ jerk and my view on him will _never _change."

"I never liked how stubborn you were," James said with a smile. "But I guess I should get used to it, huh?"

"Well…if you're planning on being my friend, then yes. Learn that I am stubborn and that your best friend and I will never get along," Lily said.

"Friend? We've moved to the 'friend' stage? I thought we were still on the leave me alone, you annoy me stage," James joked.

Lily looked down at her hands and didn't say anything. James looked at her and defended himself, "I was only kidding Evans…"

"Yeah," Lily said and then she looked up at James. "You know, Black really _gets _to me, but he's not the dumbest guy. He knows what he's talking about."

"Um…care to inform me about what _you're _talking about?" James asked. "You completely moved to a different topic of conversation…and left me behind."

"Was there truth behind what he said yesterday?" Lily asked.

"Okay, you need to be more specific," James said. "There were a lot of odd discussions yesterday. Sirius talked about dog chew toys for an _hour_ and I hope you're not seriously implying that you are still hung up on whether the squeaky bone is better than thepork chop."

Lily snorted. "_No_. I was just wondering about what he said at dinner. He said that you didn't think I was nice and you didn't like me as a person. Which is fine, you don't have to, but then stop putting on this nice guy act. It's not funny, it's not cute, and I really don't want to have to start hating you again. I mean, it'll just end up in-"

"_Lily_," James exclaimed.

"What?"

"You're rambling."

"Oh."

James smiled at how offended she was by Sirius's comment. "He was dead wrong."

Lily smiled weakly. "Okay. Well…then friend stage it is. I mean, you _have_ stopped bothering me for a good amount of time."

"Oh, and soon we'll be on the marriage stage!" James exclaimed.

"HA! Yeah right," Lily muttered sarcastically. "You still can't bother me and that in_cludes _thinking it's cool to ask me out every five minutes."

"Hey Evans?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Lily groaned and threw a pillow in his face.

* * *

"I swear I have one," James insisted a few hours later. Lily and James wandered outside and were now sitting under a tree talking. 

"I don't believe you. How can you have a genuine invisibility cloak? They're nearly impossible to obtain," Lily asked.

"Come with me and I'll show it to you," James said, getting up from the grass. Lily shrugged and followed.

"You know, this day has been really strange," Lily said as they started walking into the castle.

"How so?"

"Well, we've just spent four hours together and no one's dead," Lily said with a shrug.

James laughed. "Hey, I always wanted you to get along with me. _You _were the one that thought it would never happen."

"Well let me tell you, I never thought the day that I was actually _nice _to you would ever come," Lily said with a laugh.

James shrugged. "Well let me tell _you_, I like it a lot better this way."

Lily smiled. "Me too."

"Okay, so I have question for you," James said.

"What is it?"

"What do you _see _in that Jackson guy? I mean, he's so fake," James pointed out.

"No he's not," Lily insisted. "He's _nice_, committed, and really cares about people…not just their looks."

"I don't know," James said, giving the fat lady the password. "He seems like a bad guy to me. Like he's putting on an act and somehow, everyone's falling for it. And he certainly cares about _his _looks. I mean he must use, what, five bottles of gel on his hair?"

"Ugh," Lily muttered. "Just because we're friends doesn't mean you can accuse me of _other _people I am friends with."

"I know, I know," James said. "I was merely wondering what people saw in him."

"You're just jealous because _he _can actually deal with his hair while no matter what you do, your hair still looks like a mess," Lily teased.

"Hardy har har," James replied. He opened the door to his room and both Lily and James stood there, looking like deer caught in the headlights. James quickly shut his eyes and slammed the door shut.

"Oh my god!" Lily exclaimed.

James turned to Lily. "Should I poke your eyes out _now _or _later?"_

Kerri and Sirius opened the door. "Hey guys." Kerri's shirt was on backwards and Sirius's shirt wasn't even on.

"Don't _hey guys _us," Lily insisted. "What the hell was that?"

"Um, okay Lily…I _know _you're slow and have never _touched _a guy but _that _is what most people call s-" Sirius started.

"Shut up Black! I _know _what that was," Lily spat out. "And put on a _shirt_." Sirius grunted, but put on the shirt he was holding.

"Don't you think to _lock the door?_" James claimed.

"Hey! We weren't intending for anything to happen," Sirius noted. "We came up so I could give her the book on centaurs for our project and we got to talking and one thing led to another and we…" he trailed off.

"Oh, we all saw what happened next," Lily said.

"You're just mad because we ended up ruining your date or whatever the hell this is," Sirius asked, pointing his finger at James and Lily. "Either that, or you guys had the same thing in mind and we beat you to it."

"Um…_ew_," Lily said. "I'm _angry _because I just saw a half naked _Black_, something I never _ever _wanted to see."

"And we weren't on a date," James corrected. "_Some people _insisted on using the library after potions so we were the only ones left."

"Okay, well whatever the hell you were doing, you weren't in the room and we didn't think you were coming up here," Kerri said with a shrug.

James turned to Lily and sighed. "I'll show you the cloak later. Right now, I'm going to have a word with my best friend." And James pulled Sirius into their room and shut the door.

"Oh thank you, thank you, _thank_ you," Kerri exclaimed, giving Lily a hug.

"Ex_cuse _me?" Lily asked.

"If you hadn't come in at that time, I'm sure Sirius and I were going to have that awkward conversation about 'where is it going, is it leading to something,' etc. The conversation no one ever wants to have," Kerri said, descending down the stairs.

"Oh well I'm _so _glad to be of some help," Lily said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She looked back and thought about what was happening in the boy's room.

"Prongs my man, I have never loved you more than I do now," Sirius said inside the room.

"Um…_what?_" James asked.

"I just mean…well, you couldn't have interrupted at a better time," Sirius said.

"Oh, I think I could have," James said. "Like maybe when you two are just reading, or just talking, or…well _anything _besides lying there together…_naked_."

Sirius laughed. "We had some covers on. And anyway, we were lying there for a little bit and then it started getting awkward and I just knew we were about to have the 'what are we' conversation."

"Ugh, I _hate _that conversation," James muttered. "So what did you guys do to Remus as this was all happening?"

"Remus stayed behind to get other homework done but he-"

"Hey guys," Remus said, barging into the room.

"Speaking of," Sirius whispered. "Hey Rem."

"Why are you sitting on my bed?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Because he needs to wash his sheets before sitting on _his _bed," James snickered and Sirius threw a pillow at James.

* * *

"What if someone barged _in _on you two?" Peter exclaimed quietly the next day in Herbology class. 

"Oh someone did," James whispered.

Remus and Peter looked at James in awe. "Oooh, _gross_."

"Not only _him_, _Evans _was there," Sirius groaned.

Remus burst out laughing. "I'm sure she's scarred for life."

"Oh she is," a voice insisted. They turned to see Lily standing there. She was on her way back from the front of the room and overheard them talking.

"Oh _real _mature Evans; eavesdropping," Sirius sneered.

"It's not my fault you're so damn loud," Lily snapped. "Next time you want to talk about you _sex _adventures, I'd advise doing so somewhere other then _class_."

"No one _else _heard," Sirius scorned. "So obviously we weren't loud…you were just _snooping_. Clearly you are intrigued by the conversations we have and wanted to hear what the topic was today."

"Intrigued by your conversations?" Lily spat out. "_Puh-leaze_. You're either talking about girls…or useless things like _dog chew toys_."

Sirius turned to James. "I still say the squeaky bone is best."

Lily snorted, rolled her eyes, and went back to her friends, laughing as she heard James respond with, "_Please. _The pork chop is _so _much better."

"What's so funny?" Millie asked.

Lily shrugged but she was smiling.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

**_More to come :o)_**


	5. The Leave Her Alone and Be Nice Award

**_Friends First  
Chapter 5  
_**

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling. Only the plot and the unrecognizable characters belong to me. Have fun reading!

>>>>>>>>>>>>

James was coming back from the kitchens when he heard a familiar voice talking with a friend. "I bet I could."

"She would never fall for it."

James peaked around the corner and saw Jackson talking to his friend, Dylan.

"She's always smiling at me and willing to help me with even the smallest things on the project," Jackson was saying. "She is _so _into me. Getting her to agree to a date would be no problem. And convincing her to have sex with me will be a piece of cake."

It took everything James had not to lunge at Jackson.

"I was in the middle of asking her out a week ago but that stupid Potter interrupted me," Jackson sneered.

"Well of course he did, doesn't he have a crush on Lily?" Dylan asked.

"Really?" Jackson exclaimed. "Hmm, I don't think so, they're always fighting and torturing each other."

"Yeah because they _like _each other," Dylanoffered.

James didn't hear what they said next because they started walking away. James started stomping up to the Gryffindor common's room to tell Lily what he heard, but he stopped. He realized that telling Lily that Jackson was only acting nice to her so he could use her would be interfering with her life, and that is a violation against the pact he made with her. James sighed and convinced himself that Lily was smart and would see right through Jackson.

* * *

"EEEK!" Lily shrieked, barging into the girl's room.

"What? What's wrong?" the girls exclaimed.

"Jackson asked me out!" Lily exclaimed.

Millie, Mandy, and Kerri immediately stopped what they were doing and looked over to see if Lily was sincere.

"Bloody hell!" they exclaimed.

"But _I _saw him first," Mandy whined jokingly.

"Well obviously _he _saw Lily first," Millie teased.

"I can't believe he asked you out!" Kerri squealed. "That's so awesome! Your first date!"

Lily smiled but then asked a question that shocked everyone, "Do you think James will mind?"

"Wha-_what?_" the girls asked, very surprised that she was asking this.

"I just mean, won't it be a little awkward when we work on the project? I mean, I'd hate it if James was sitting in front me with his girlfriend because I know they wouldn't work and it's just annoying for people to be holding hands and being all lovey dovey when there's work to get done."

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Millie muttered. "You're actually con_cerned _with what _James _will think?"

"This is _so _unlike you. It's like you're a different _person_," Mandy exclaimed.

"Lily, you're nothing _like_ James. You'll actually _work_, regardless of whether or not your boyfriend is there. _Plus_, you haven't even gone on a date yet so _technically_ he's not your boyfriend and therefore who knows if you'll be lovey dovey and whatnot," Kerri explained.

Lily shrugged and flopped on her bed. "That's true." Lily then immediately sat up. "Oh my gosh. What am I going to wear?"

The three girls laughed, "_There's_ the old Lily."

* * *

Two days later, Jackson, Lily, and James were working on their project in the library.

"Okay so maybe we should put in a paragraph on why the elves went on strike since that is unusual and it will help clarify our paper," James suggested.

Lily smiled at James. "Good idea."

"But it should only be brief because we don't want to take away from what we are actually proving," Jackson said.

Lily gave Jackson and even bigger smile. "Right, of course."

"Okay, but not too brief because then it won't look like a paragraph, just a few sentences stuck in," James clarified.

Lily looked back and smiled at James. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"But if it gets too long, the professor might think we were just trying to make our paper look longer," Jackson claimed.

Lily smiled at Jackson. "That's true."

"But we can-" James started.

"How about I go find more books on the strike?" Lily suggested, not realizing that James was about to retort. Neither Jackson nor James said anything, they just glared at each other, so Lily got up and left to find the book.

"What the hell was _that_?" James hissed.

"_Me? _What about _you?" _Jackson exclaimed. "It's as if you're trying to suck up to a _professor_."

"You too! It's like your trying to _impress _her or something," James claimed.

"I'm merely trying to do well on this _project_," Jackson exclaimed.

"_Me _too, _you _just happen to fight everything I say," James snapped.

"It's not as if you're trying to hear me out, you snap at me every time I _talk_," Jackson scoffed.

"It's not _my _fault your ideas suck," James sneered.

"You're just jealous because Lily _likes _me," Jackson cried out.

"_Jealous? _Why the hell would I be jealous of _that?_" James scorned.

"Because _I'm _going out with her Saturday and _you're _not," Jackson burst out.

James stopped talking, breathing, and moving altogether. His heart skipped a beat as he comprehended what Jackson just said. "You-you what?"

"I _said _you're jealous beca-" Jackson started.

"Okay, there aren't too many books, but I found these two," Lily said.

Jackson and James just looked up at her and smiled weakly.

"I guess two hours is good enough for today huh?" Lily stated with a slight laugh.

"Yeah, fine," James mumbled.

"I have Quidditch practice anyway," Jackson said.

"Okay," Lily said with a bright smile.

"I'll see you Saturday?" Jackson asked, giving Lily a kiss on the cheek.

"Of course," Lily said, her smile getting bigger.

James watched Jackson walk out of sight and then said, "You can't go out with him."

Lily looked up at James and laughed, thinking he was just kidding. "Why not?" She started gathering up her things.

James hesitated. "You just can't."

"James, that's not a reason. You can't just say because I can't," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"He doesn't like you," James blurted out.

Lily stopped gathering her stuff and looked up at James. "Ex_cuse _me?"

"I just mean that well…he doesn't exactly like you per say."

Lily dropped her books loudly and stood up. "You're right, he doesn't like me, he just asked me _out_," Lily exclaimed sarcastically.

"Lily just trust me okay?" James insisted.

"You know what Potter?" Lily asked, not noticing as James flinched at the sound of his last name. "I _really _thought you could change. I actually thought you understand the meaning of not interfering with my life. But you're the same guy as you were before. Possessive, arrogant, and argumentative. You don't _own _me. I can do what I want."

"Lily it's not like that," James exclaimed. "He's _using _you."

"You're just saying that because you don't like him. You've _never _liked him," Lily cried out.

"No, that's not it-" James started.

"You're so _full _of yourself. I'm not _yours _to hold on to, so just let me be my own person. You _said _you'd stop bothering me and leave me alone. But obviously when I decided we could be friends, you thought that meant you could control me. Well, _think again. _How about you do us both a favor and go to hell."

* * *

"Okay, so let me get this straight. _You _don't know what you are, _he _doesn't know what you are, and you guys are okay with this?" Mandy asked Kerri, two days later.

"Well it's been five days and we haven't talked about it, so yeah. I think it's safe to say we may never have the conversation," Kerri said, looking up from her homework.

"You guys are animals," Lily mumbled, not bothering to look up.

"Hey, _some _of us can't have the gorgeous Jackson Hilton asking us out…we take what we can get," Kerri said with a laugh. "I bet you're really excited for Saturday huh? Only two days left."

"Yeah, I'm ecstatic," Lily muttered.

Kerri and Mandy exchanged looks. "Are you okay Lils?"

"Huh?" Lily asked, looking up. "Oh yeah, sure, I'm fine."

"Okay if _I _were the one going out with Jackson, I'd be bouncing off the walls, throwing clothes around the room trying to figure out just what to wear, looking through my make up debating what looks best on me, thinking of interesting things to say. I'd be doing _anything _but sitting on my bed sulking," Mandy claimed.

"I know, I know," Lily mumbled.

"So what's wrong?"

Lily hesitated and then smiled. "Nothing, I just have things on my mind." She leaped off the bed, went into the bathroom and came out with a bag and showed it off. "Now, what make up looks best on me?"

* * *

"Are girls always so unreasonable?" James asked his friends later that same day.

"Yes," Peter answered at the same time Sirius said, "No."

"Kerri is the most reasonable person I know," Sirius said.

"Oh you just think that because she's one of those girls who doesn't want to have the conversation," Remus stated.

"That doesn't make her reasonable," Sirius said with a grin. "That makes her a _god_."

The three girls rolled their eyes at Sirius. "Okay, so Prongs, why are you asking if girls are unreasonable?" Remus wondered.

"I'm just wondering," James muttered.

"Well obviously there's a reason," Sirius said, "Let me guess, you asked Rebekka out and she said no."

James suppressed a laugh. "Yup, that's exactly it." James lied. "Told me I was too mature for her."

"_Mature? _Has she _met _you?" Sirius asked and James threw a crumpled piece of parchment at him.

"She _is _a fourth year," James said, "Maybe she felt that it's too big of an age difference."

"So that makes…_one _girl who's turned you down?" Remus asked.

"No way, he's been turned down a hundred times by Evans," Sirius reminded.

"That doesn't count," James muttered. "I only asked her out to annoy her."

"Well, it worked," Sirius mumbled. "And then you had to go and ruin the system."

"What system?" James asked.

"The system where you ask her out, she yells at you, and we laugh at how mad she gets. It's a _great _system. I highly en_joyed _the system." Sirius exclaimed. "But then you go and do something so stupid,that you get the dunce capfortoday.You become _friends_ with her and now there's no one to tease her with. You know, it's not as fun to bother her if it's only me."

"Well then here's an idea," Remus said, rolling his eyes. "Why don't you _stop _bothering her."

"Because she's a bitch," Sirius said simply. "And I don't want to be like James and receive the Leave Her Alone and Be Nice Award."

"You know what goes along with that award?" Remus asked. ""The Haven't Been Screwed in a Long Time Award."

Sirius gave Remus a very shocked look. "Okay, _I _am the only one allowed to make sexual insinuations! That's what I'm _known _for. If you take my sex comments from me, I have _nothing _left. You hear me, _NOTHING!"_

James threw a pillow at him to shut up him. "You know, Lily's going out with Jackson," James piped up.

"Surprise, surprise," Sirius murmured.

"Wasn't it obvious that they'd end up together?" Remus asked. "I mean he's been eyeing her since the beginning of the year and no girl would turn down Jackson Hilton."

"But he's up to no good!" James burst out.

"Uh…what?" the three boys asked.

James sighed. "Nothing, forget it."

"Are you…" Sirius trailed off. "Are you _jealous_?"

"_No _I'm not jealous. I just don't like that Jackson guy at all. I wouldn't want _any _girl to date him," James said. "Just forget it, let's talk about something else."

"How about how Sirius should find some other place to have sex," Remus said, turning to Sirius. "Like _anywhere _but the room."

The three boys gave Sirius a look who just looked guilty. James threw a pillow at Sirius who threw it back which just resulted in a pillow fight between the four boys.

* * *

"Ugh! They're so loud. I wonder what they're talking about," Lily said, looking up from her book at the boys laughing at each other.

"Girls, what else," Millie said, rolling her eyes.

"Why don't you just go over there?" Kerri asked.

"Because I don't _want _to," Lily said.

"Well, it looks like they're planning a prank or something. We'd be interrupting anyway," Mandy said.

"Whatever it is, we all know it's against the rules. Being Head Girl, I should be doing something about this," Lily said stubbornly.

"Oh they've always been doing pranks, they're just scheming to do something just as stupid as their other ones," Millie pointed out.

"Well, _I _want to know what the prank is," Lily said.

"Oh, so you're going to go over there and just ask them and expect an answer?" Kerri asked sarcastically.

"I'm not _dumb_. Of _course _I'm not just going to go over there and ask," Lily said rolling her eyes. "You are."

"What?" Kerri exclaimed. "I'm very content in sitting here, minding my own business, doing homework."

"Homework?" Lily asked, rolling her eyes. "If writing Mrs. Kerri Black over and over again is homework, then it's no wonder I'm failing."

"You're not failing anything," Millie said.

"Which means that either you're writing Ms. Sirius Black all over _your_ parchment as well…or you're fucking a teacher to get an A," Mandy pointed out.

"This is _Lily _we're talking about. She has dignity," Kerri said.

"Oh, right," Mandy said. "She's fucking a teacher."

They all laughed and Lily sat down and started studying for Charms.

Lily got frustrated as the boys started shouting and throwing pillows at each other. "Ergh! I'm trying to study and they're being annoying, laughing loudly and throwing things at each other," Lily insisted.

"So go over there and tell them that," Kerri said rolling her eyes.

"No," Lily insisted. "I mean, Sirius will yell at me and right now, I don't feel like getting angry."

"You look like you're angry to me," Millie muttered.

"Okay…how about _I _go over there and ask them to shut up?" Kerri said, getting up.

"Wait no! What are you going to say?" Lily asked. "Don't tell them _I _want them to shut up because then Black will come over here and throw it in my face."

"Don't worry, I'll be creative," Kerri said and then walked over to the guys.

"Hey guys?" Kerri asked and all four of them looked up at her.

"What's up Ker?"

"I have tons of reading to do and we have that huge test in Charms coming up and because I have a life and other classes, and because Charms isn't the only thing I have to concentrate on, I'm behind and therefore I'll probably fail and then Lily will make that 'I'm smart, you're dumb' face at me for the rest of the week which will make me very upset…in fact, I could cry," Kerri said.

The boys looked up at her in awe. "So…" Sirius said slowly. "Keep it down?"

"Yes."

"Got it."

Kerri walked away and Lily watched the four boy whisper. Lily looked up at Kerri in amazement and Kerri simply answered, "I'm a pro."

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**_I did horrible on my macro test so I thought I'd cheer myself up by posting a chapter. So you guys better appreciate it. haha, just kidding. Don't forget to review!_**


	6. Duct Tape, Chocolate, and Transportation

**_Friends First  
Chapter 6_**

Here's the next chapter, read the disclaimer from another chapter if you really want to know what belongs to me and what doesn't, and don't forget to review!

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"What the hell was that Lily Evans?" a voice shouted, coming storming into the Great Hall early the next morning.

Lily practically spilled her drink, surprised by the loud shout. "What the hell was _what _Kerri?"

"You're supposed to wake me up!" Kerri cried out, taking a quick sip of Lily's milk. "Now I'm going to go to Ancient Ruins with no breakfast. Did you _want _me to pour this milk on you?"

"Excuse me Kerri, but I'm pretty sure I set an alarm for you to get up," Lily pointed out.

"Yes, but an alarm goes off when my hand smashes it," Kerri said. "After I hit _you_ many times, you _still _don't go away."

"There are times I'd wish _you'd_ go away," Lily mumbled.

"I wouldn't offend the girl who is still completely serious about pouring this glass of milk on you," Kerri said.

"Well hello ladies," Sirius said, walking past them to leave the Great Hall.

Lily looked at Remus and Sirius and rolled her eyes. "Oh look, it's Dweedle Dee and Dweedle Dum-Ass."

Sirius just glared at her and continued talking. "Are you guys aware of the time? Some of us are actually worried about being late to Ancient Ruins."

"We know perfectly well what time it is," Lily snapped. "It's time for _you _to leave us alone."

"Now, now be nice," Remus said.

"I don't _want _to be nice," Lily sneered.

"Okay then," Sirius said with an evil grin. "Let's be dirty."

Lily turned to Kerri. "You still got that glass of milk?"

"Come on," Kerri said, pulling Lily. "We're going."

"Hey, where's James?" Millie asked the three guys.

"He didn't feel like coming down to breakfast," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Why not?"

"He wasn't hungry," Peter said with a shrug.

"He's beendistant lately. What's going on with him?" Millie asked.

"Who knows," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Is he okay?"

Sirius turned to Remus. "Why do girls always ask so many questions?"

"There's a quota that they have to reach by the end of the day," Remus teased, rolling his eyes.

"What happens if they don't?" Sirius asked.

"They're forced to have sex with _you_," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Okay, who's got duct tape?" Sirius asked.

"Why?" Kerri wondered.

"I'm duct taping all your mouths shut," Sirius said but then turned to Kerri. "But there's no need to duct tape _your _mouth shut."

"Oh really, and why's that?"

"Because you'd have sex with me _willingly_," Sirius said with a wink.

"Actually no, I didn't reach my quota the other day which is why you found me in your bed," Kerri teased.

"Hell, either way, you were in my bed," Sirius said with a laugh.

* * *

"Ugh," James groaned, throwing his books on his desk, flopping down on his bed and giving a huge sigh.

"I don't even know why I'm going to bother asking this…because you don't seem to be answering the question…but what's wrong?" Sirius asked, throwing his books on his bed, glad that classes were over.

"Nothing," James mumbled. "Why do you assume something's wrong?"

"Violent book tossing and a heavy sigh usually signals that something's wrong."

James paused. "What would you have done if I had sighed twice?"

"Would have asked if you wanted me to pass the tissues," Sirius said with a grin.

James laughed and sat up from his bed.

Sirius took his desk chair and moved it beside James's bed. He sat down in it backwards and placed his chin against the back of the chair. "Okay, so what's going on?"

"You've already asked me that."

"Correction…I asked what was _wrong_," Sirius said.

"Which is the same as asking what's going on, but in different form," James said.

"We can sit here all you want and I can reword the question many different ways...so how about you just answer the question," Sirius said.

"I already did."

"You gave me the wrong answer."

"Wrong answer? How do you know it's the wrong answer?"

"Because I know _something's_ going on, so therefore saying _nothing's_wrong is not the right answer."

"Well then see, you know the right answer. And you didn't need any help from me," James said. "Remus is wrong when he says you're the dumbest in the group."

Sirius ignored that last part with a shrug. "If I _knew _the right answer, would I be asking you?"

"You are a tad bit forgetful," James said.

"I am not. I remember most of what people tell me," Sirius said. "Okay, but we're not talking about me. I mean, you know how much I love to talk about me…but we can do that later. Right now, we're talking about you. What's wrong?"

"It's Lily," James said.

"Okay, so back to talking about me?" Sirius suggested.

James laughed but continued. "She's mad at me."

"Oh good!" Sirius exclaimed and then saw the look James was giving him. "I mean, bad, really _bad_. What'd she do?"

"It's nothing really," James said.

"Okay, that's bullshit," Sirius said. "You've been sulking for the past day and I want to know what happened."

"Look, you don't like Lily so if I was going to share this story with someone, I wouldn't share it with you," James said, not intending to get angry at Sirius, he was just mad about the whole thing.

"Whoa, why are you yelling?" Sirius asked. "Yes, I hate Evans, but you can still tell me what happened. We tell each other everything. In fact, we're practically the same person."

"You don't know everything," James said.

"Oh yeah?" Sirius challenged. "I can tell you anything you want about yourself. Like...my guess is that you have a half eaten box of chocolate in your desk drawer and...you're wearing your navy blue boxers with snitches on them."

James's mouth dropped wide open. "How the hell did you know that?"

Sirius opened James's desk drawer and took out the box of candy. "Because I'm good." Sirius took a bite of the chocolate. "But these are not." Sirius spit out the candy in a tissue.

"No really, how did you know that?"

"Because the chocolate is your comfort food…you always eat that when your mad or upset," Sirius said with a shrug.

"And the boxers?"

"I'm wearing the only other pair of clean boxers you own right now," Sirius said with a sly grin. "Okay, so tell me what's wrong with you and Evans."

"You'll just be biased and tell me she was wrong and get angry at her," James said.

"Yeah…._so?_ I'd still be on _your _side," Sirius said. "Plus, when am I _not _angry at her?"

James paused. "Oh yeah…"

"Hey guys, what's up?" Remus asked, entering the room with Peter.

"Talking about girls," James said quickly.

"Still hung up on Rebekka rejecting you?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, of course," James said quickly.

"Well I think you sh-" Remus said, taking a bite of the chocolate sitting James's desk. "Yuck! These are disgusting."

James and Sirius exchanged glances and burst out laughing.

* * *

"Okay, so what does it mean when a muggle takes the tube?" Sirius asked the group.

"It's an underground train," Millie explained.

"But what's a train?" Sirius asked.

"It's a means of transportation," Mandy pointed out, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, but why don't people just drive cars?" he asked.

"Because some people can't afford them," Millie said.

"Yeah, but-" Sirius started.

"You'd think three years of Muggles Studies would help him understand their world," Remus said. "But he's still clueless."

"I am not clueless!" Sirius cried out. "So…about this train thingy."

"Hey, so where's Lily?" Peter asked the girls, trying to turn to a different topic of conversation.

"On her date with Jackson," Kerri said.

"I _still _can't believe she gets to go out with Jackson Hilton," Millie said.

"God, you guys make him seem like a supermodel or something," Sirius said.

"Sounds like _someone _is afraid that he's not the most popular guy in the school anymore," Kerri said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh no, that's not it," Sirius said and then grinned. "I _know _I'm the most popular guy in school."

"Oh I don't know, James could give you a run for your money," Kerri said.

"Ah but somehow, you're not screwing James," Sirius said with an evil grin. Kerri threw a pillow at Sirius.

"Why so quiet there James?" Remus asked. "They're talking about you and you're not paying attention."

James wasn't listening. He was staring at the entrance, waiting for Lily to come back.

"Hel-_lo_," Sirius sang. "Earth to James!"

"Huh? What?" James asked, snapping out of it.

Everyone else exchanged glances and just shrugged. "Nothing."

"Okay," James said, and then turned back to the entrance.

"Hey James, are you okay?" Sirius asked, wishing he got the whole 'Lily story' out of him the day before.

James didn't even look up. "Yes."

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Sirius looked at everyone and shrugged. "You're fine just staring into space?"

"Yes."

"Do you want to make out?"

"Yes." James then shook his head. "Wait…what?"

"Oh great, I'm having sex with a gay guy," Kerri mumbled and everyone (but James) laughed.

"Um…okay," he said and then went back to staring at the entrance.

"What's with him?" Millie hissed to the others.

"Who knows? He's been really quiet for the past few days," Remus said with a shrug.

"Maybe he's _also _wondering why muggles need so many different types of transportation," Sirius said, trying to change the subject, knowing that James didn't what him mentioned that he and Lily were fighting.

"Can't be, he's not _dumb _like you," Kerri said. Sirius stuck his tongue out at Kerri.

"Oh wow, we're _real _mature," Kerri said, rolling her eyes.

"Speaking of mature, he's probably just thinking about Rebekka Jenson turning him down," Peter noted.

"Well of _course _she turned him down," Mandy said. "She has a boyfriend."

"She does?" the boys asked.

"Yeah, he's a seventh year Hufflepuff," Millie added.

"Wait, seventh year?" Remus asked. The girls nodded. "Well then obviously she doesn't mind going out with 'mature' guys."

"Hey Prongs," Sirius said, throwing a pillow at him to get him to pay attention to them.

"Huh?" James asked, snapping back to reality.

"Why did Rebekka Jensen turn you down?" Sirius asked.

"What? I never asked Rebekka out," James said, obviously not realizing what he was saying because his mind was on something else.

"What?" Sirius asked.

"What?" Remus wondered.

"What?" Peter asked.

James looked at them. "What?"

"You said the other day that she rejected you because you were too mature," Sirius said.

"Oh…right, yeah," James said quickly.

"Okay James, _what _the hell is going on?" Remus demanded to know.

"_Nothing_," James insisted.

"Oooh, right _nothing's _up. I mean, it's everyday you lie to us and ignore us. How could we have been so stupid to think that something's up," Remus said sarcastically.

Sirius decided it was time to change the subject. "How about we do something that we haven't done since the last day of last year," Sirius said with an evil grin.

"Leave?" Mandy asked and everyone laughed.

"I was _talking _about strip poker," Sirius said evilly.

"_No_," they all insisted.

"How about spin the bottle?"

"_No_."

"Truth or dare?"

"_No_."

"So basically you want to sit here and…_talk?_" he asked.

"Yes," they all answered.

"Maybe we'll be willing to do things that would get us in trouble some other time," Kerri said, rolling her eyes. "Try again later."

"Thank you Magic 8 Ball," Sirius pouted. "You guys are boring."

"Well _you _were the one boring is earlier with your transportation questions," Kerri said. "So we blame you for being boring."

"Oh, well as long as-" Sirius started before Lily came stomping in. She was hiding it well, but James could tell she had been crying because her eyes were red and puffy but he was pretty sure no one else could tell. James immediately stood up as she walked towards them.

"Hey Lily!" the girls exclaimed.

Lily just walked past them but was stopped by Sirius. "What's wrong Evans? Something go wrong on your 'date?' I bet he told you he didn't like you anymore after your boring conversation?" Sirius asked.

Lily stopped walking away and whirled around to face Sirius. "Shut the fuck up Black," Lily shouted. Everyone was taken back by this response.

"Uh…ex_cuse _me?" Sirius asked.

"I haven't done _anything _to you and all you do is ridicule me. You think you're cool when you make fun of me, but guess what? It's immature and shows just how much of an asshole you really are. And I'm fucking _tired _of it and I would like it if you would just leave me the hell alone!" Lily shouted and then stomped off.

It was quiet while everyone tried to comprehend what just happened. Lily Evans has never really cursed before and here she was, cursing Sirius Black out. "She _so_ wants me," Sirius confirmed teasingly.

James groaned and ran after Lily.

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**_I'm almost done with the next chapter so if you review...maybe I'll post it. But you have to review!_**


	7. Rule Number One and Thanks?

**_Friends First  
Chapter 7_**

**Okay I was _going _to post this sooner but something completely amazing and odd happened...ALL of the electricity at my college (James Madison University) went off. That means no tv, no internet, no computer, no lights, no traffic lights (we had a car crash right in front of my dorm), pedestrian's walked at their own risk, no vending machines, we couldn't eat anything because our money is on a credit card like thing given to us by the college...and the swipe machine was down. So basically Isat in the dark with my friends playing card cames until the power came back on four hours later.**

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There was a knock at the door and Lily immediately knew who it was. "Go away Potter."

But James never listened to her before, so he wasn't about to start. "Lily, look, I know you-"

"I _said _go away," Lily said sternly. She was facing the wall, looking away from James.

"I just wanted to see if you were okay," James said with a shrug.

"I'm _fine_," Lily insisted, watching a tear hit her pillow."Now, _go away_."

"No," James said firmly.

Lily turned her head and look at James to see if he was serious. "No?"

"No."

"Look, you can tell me 'I told you so' some other time okay?" Lily said tiredly.

"Do you _really _think I came up here to throw this in your face?" James asked. Lily just gave him a look which clearly said she thought that's what he was planning on doing. "Lily, I'm not a heartless jerk. I know how devastated you must be. I kno-"

"_Devastated?_" Lily asked, sitting up. "Yeah right. I am not _devastated_. He's just one more guy to add to the list of jerks who think it's cool to sleep with me."

"Yeah, but the difference is," James started, sitting next to Lily on her bed. "You really liked this one."

Lily looked down at her hands. "Why are guys such jerks?" Lily asked, her bottom lip quivering.

"Because if we weren't, there would be nothing but nice people in this world and we can't have that. That would end up in too much peaceful bliss," James said with a smile. "I mean, girls in beauty pageants would have to find something other than world peace to wish for and that means that they would have to _think_."

Lily laughed.

James looked at Lily's red eyes and grabbed the tissue box from her desk and handed it to her.

She just glanced blankly at the tissue box, sighed, and accepted it. "Why are you so nice?"

"Huh?"

"I told you to go to hell the other dayand you're being _nice _to me," Lily said.

"Oh 'go to hell' is just a phrase. People say that all the time," James said. "I mean, I go up to many strangers and tell them to go to hell. It's replacing the word 'hello.'"

Lily laughed again and then got serious. She took a deep breath, attempted to swallow her tears, and asked, "Is there a club?"

"A club?" James asked quizzically.

"A club of the guys who wish they could sleep with me," Lily said.

James grinned. "Yup…and I'm the president."

Lily laughed and hit James with her second pillow.

* * *

"I wonder what they're doing up there" Peter asked 

Sirius smirked and opened his mouth.

"Sirius, if what you're about to say involves Lily and James in odd positions, I'm going to beat you up," Remus warned.

"What makes you think everything that comes out of my mouth has some sort of sexual implication to it?"

"Because it does?" Peter suggested.

"I'll have you know" Sirius began "that I am a very respectable person who is not just some sex fiend."

"With that in mind, what were you just going to say?" Remus asked.

Sirius smirked again. "I wonder if James's condoms are expired."

Remus nodded in his direction, "Respectable indeed."

"You guys are horrible," Kerri said shaking her head.

"That's not what you said last night," Sirius said with a wink.

"That's because I was thinking of excuses on how to get you off of me," Kerri teased, winking back at Sirius.

"Okay! Rule number one, _no _mentioning anything from the sex lives of Kerri and Sirius," Remus declared.

"Fine," Sirius pouted. "We're not sharing our strawberries and whipped cream with you."

"Anything that touches you, I don't want to go near anyway," Remus said.

"What makes you think it's touched me?" Sirius asked.

"Um because you can make anything sexual and I'm guessing that the whipped cream is being licked off your body," Remus said.

"Okay! What happened to rule number one? _No talking about it_," Millie exclaimed.

* * *

"Well…I appreciate you not throwing this whole Jackson thing in my face," Lily told James. 

"I wouldn't do that," James said with a shrug. "Although throwing Jackson down a flight of stairs is something I _would_ do…and am totally willing to do."

Lily laughed. "Nah, working on our project in the hospital wing won't be easy."

"Oh…" James said slowly. "I forgot about the project."

"It doesn't matter," Lily said with a shrug. "We're almost done with the paper."

"It still sucks," James said.

"James?" Lily asked.

"Hmm?"

"I'm really sorry."

James was taken aback, "About what?"

"About not believing you. About calling you arrogant and possessive. About telling you to go to hell," Lily said, looking down at her hands. "I'm sorry about being a bitch."

"It's okay," James said, "I've been used to your bitchy side since the moment I saw you." Lily laughed as James continued, "You just didn't want to believe that the guy you liked had a bad side."

Lily nodded weakly and kept staring at her hands.

"Are you sure you're okay?"

Lily nodded.

James raised his eyebrows. "I don't think you are."

"Well, I'm okayish."

"That's not okay."

"It's okay with an ish," Lily pointed out andJames laughed."If I tell you something will you promise not to laugh?"

"Of course."

Lily took a deep breath. "I've never had a boyfriend."

James tried to hide his shock, "So?"

"Well, when he asked me out, I was amazed. I mean, Kerri is the one who gets asked out my gorgeous guys," Lily said with a shrug. "And if she's in the middle of her guy of the week, the guys ask Millie or Mandy out. They don't even glance at me. Butalong came Jackson and…" Lily trailed off, still not daring to look up.

"He's a jerk," James confirmed.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure."

"Do you think I'm pretty?" Lily asked.

"What?" James asked.

"You heard me."

"Of course you're pretty," James insisted. "Why would you think you weren't?"

"Forget it, it's nothing," Lily said quickly.

"What did he say to you?" James asked, trying hard not to get mad.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Obviously Jackson said something to you and I want to know what it was."

Lily took a deep breath. "He told me I was a bitch who would never get a boyfriend because I wasn't pretty."

James clenched his fists together. "He's dead wrong. You're probably the prettiest girl in all of Hogwarts. And you're not a bitch…although Sirius might not agree with me."

Lily grinned weakly.

"Lily, I asked you out all these years for a reason," James insisted. "I did it because I _liked _you. I mean, and not just the fact that you're pretty. You have a good personality and you're willing to fight for what you believe in."

"Yeah, and all that has gotten me _real _far," Lily muttered.

"Lily," James said and Lily didn't look up. "Lily, look at me." Lily slowly looked up at James. James gulped, completely forgetting what he was about to say. Before either one of them could say anything, James leaned in and kissed Lily.

They broke apart and Lily just looked up. "Uh…thanks." She was so surprised by what happened and so embarrassed by what she said that she ran out of the room.

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**It's short, but sweet...right? Well, tell me what you think by reviewing. I have a business test tomorrow. With the power outage, I thought to myself ooh now I won't have anything distracting me from studying...WRONG, i played games instead. **

**It's really easy!**

**V  
V ****click this box and review!**


	8. Coffee and Gay Boyfriends

**_Friends First  
Chapter 8_**

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"I need more coffee," Lily moaned the next morning at breakfast

"You've already had four cups!" Millie exclaimed. "Your body is going to consist of 85 percent water, and 15 percentcaffeine."

"There is no coffee," Kerri teased, trying to get Lily to drink something else.

"Noo," Lily said. "I _need _coffee."

"I can't help you," Kerri said. "How about tea?"

"No, I need _coffee_," Lily repeated.

"There is none," Kerri taunted.

"Coffee, Lily needs coffee," Lily said.

"There's no coffee left," Kerri said.

"_Please _tell me you're kidding," Lily asserted.

Kerri grinned. "Yeah, I am."

Lily gasped shockingly. "You're mean, and cruel and, _not_ funny and-"

"Here's your coffee," Kerri said.

"And so _so _pretty," Lily said, taking a sip of the coffee. The girls laughed and turned to see the Marauders walk in, obviously making an entrance, winking and waving at anyone who would look their way.

"Hey so Lily, what happened on your date last night?" Millie asked.

"Oh my gosh! I can't believe we forgot to ask!" Kerri exclaimed.

"Nothing happened and nothing's _going _to happen." Lily stole a glance at James walking in and she couldn't help but smile to herself.

"Lily Evans, are you honestly sitting there telling me that after I so nicely gave you your hundredth cup of coffee that you aren't going to do something as simple as tell me how your date with the ever sogorgeous and ever so popular Jackson Hilton went?" Kerri exclaimed.

"Yes."

"Oh," Kerri said. "Okay."

"Hey Kerri did you hear?" Sirius asked.

"Hear about what?"

"I supposedly got hotter overnight," Sirius teased.

"And did _you _hear?" Kerri asked.

"Hear what?"

"It's supposed to rain today," Kerri said and then dumped a tall glass of water on Sirius's head.

Everyone else burst out laughing as Sirius sat there and pouted. "I'm wet."

"That's strange…" Kerri said. "Because I'm dry."

Sirius gave Kerri a huge hug so she also got a little wet. "Oops…not anymore."

Lily got up from the table. "I'm gonna go."

"What? Why?" the girls asked.

Lilly didn't dare look at James. "I have stuff to do." And before anyone could stop her, she rushed out of the room.

"What's up with her?" Sirius asked.

"Oh like _you _care," Mandy mumbled, stuffing sausage into her mouth.

"I _do_. I'm wondering what made her come in and practically ignore our existence last night, then bitch me out, and now she jumps up the moment we come by," Sirius said with a shrug. "Oh…is it that time of the month?"

"That's not the answer to _everything _Si," Kerri said, rolling her eyes.

"But it's _usually _the answer," Sirius noted.

Kerri opened her mouth to retort, but paused and said, "That's true."

"I'm _also_ wondering what's going on with her," Mandy said. "I mean, she wouldn't tell us about her date with Jackson. She wouldn't stop talking about this date for the past week. Then she goes on the date...and she says nothing."

"Hey James, you went up there after the date. What did she say to you?"

"Nothing," James said quickly.

"Nothing? That's all you have to say?" Millie asked.

"Well of _course_, they didn't have time to talk in between the sex," Sirius joked.

"We didn't have sex," James said, rolling his eyes.

"Oh…what _else_ would you do in a girl's room?" Sirius teased.

"We just talked," James said with a shrug.

"Talked?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, not _all _people have sex when they're in a girl's room," James said rolling his eyes.

"Maybe not all people, but _smart_ people do," Sirius teased. "So has Lily stopped being mad at you?" Sirius asked.

"Lily was mad at you?" the girls asked.

"She was mad at you?" Remus and Peter asked.

"What? No," Sirius lied. "Where'd you get that idea?"

They all rolled their eyes as James tried explaining, "We said things, got offended, but now we're fine."

"And now you're having sex," Sirius said.

"We are _not _having sex," James said, "All we did was kiss."

"_What?_" they all exclaimed.

James paused, mentally kicking himself. "Oops."

"_Oops?_" Remus asked. "That's _all _you have to say?"

"It was nothing," James said with a shrug.

"Nothing my ass," Sirius muttered. "You just kissed the virgin Mary."

James glared at Sirius and excused himself from the table.

"Hey! You can't just _leave_ after you tell us that! You haveto dish out the dirt!" Sirius exclaimed.

"So…we're going to go talk to Lily," Kerri said, as the three girls got up.

"Which is girl code for we're going to go gab about guys," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

"Not all guys," Kerri said. "We try not talking about you. We don't like to throw up."

Sirius threw his napkin at her as she walked away smirking.

* * *

"Hey Lily," the girls said, entering the room.

"Hey," Lily muttered. She was sitting on her bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"So…" Kerri started slowly. "Kiss any boys lately?"

Lily popped up very quickly and looked at her friends. "He told you?"

"Accidentally," Millie said.

"I can't ever talk to him again," Lily said, burying her head in her hands.

"Why not?" Mandy asked, obviously confused by Lily's reaction.

"I didn't do it right," Lily said.

"What do you mean you didn't do it right? There's not many ways you can do it…_unright_," Millie said. "Wait…you used your lips right?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Ha ha." She then squeaked out, "I told him thank you."

"He kissed you and you said 'thank you?'"

"Yes."

The girls paused until Mandy said, "Well…that was polite."

"No, it was _stupid_. I don't know what I'm _doing_."

"Lily, no one does when they get their first kiss," Kerri explained.

"I just don't want to do or say anything else that's gonna be idiotic."

"I'm afraid that when a boy is involved, it all comes out in Idiot," Kerri said.

"So…you really like him?" Millie asked, plopping down on her bed.

Lily sat up from her bed and shrugged. "I don't know. I mean…it's _James _we're talking about."

"So?"

"He's the guy of one night stands, the guy who has been making my life miserable since the day I met him, he's…he's Potter," Lily said with a shrug.

"That boy has liked you since the day he met you. You know the elementary saying that boys like you when they make fun of you and torture you? That's not just an elementary saying. That's true up to the point until you die," Kerri said

"Oh come on, not only did he _torture _me, he made my life a living hell," Lily explained.

"That's true," Millie said. "Wow…that boy must _really _like you."

Lily groaned at Millie's comment, but secretly she was smiling to herself.

* * *

"What was kissing Lily like?" Remus asked, as the boys walked up to the commons room.

James smiled. "Well, she-"

"Just kiss my shoe…it _has _to have the same effect," Sirius said, not wanting to talk about Lily.

"_No_," James said. "It was like kissing a-"

"A monster? An absolutely hideous monster?" Sirius asked, and then gave the Fat Lady the password.

"_No_," James said.

"Oh..." Sirius said slowly. "Is it like kissing your aunt? 'Cause I'm pretty sure kissing Lily would be like kissing my aunt…and my aunt's dead."

"_No_. Kissing Lily was-"

"Something you'd like to forget?"

"_Sirius, _shut. up," James said through gritted teeth, plopping down on the couch next to the other three boys "Kissing Lily is like kissing-"

"Me?" Sirius said.

"I wouldn't _know_," James said.

"Oh…so is it like kissing a-" Sirius started but was stopped when a pair of lips met his. He pulled away quickly to see James staring back at him. "What the fuck was that?"

"I was just trying to shut you up," James muttered. "And by the way, kissing Lily was _nothing _like kissing you…" James grinned. "You were much better."

"Oh boy," a voice gasped from behind the boys, knowing full well that Sirius and James were just joking around. All four boys turned around to see Kerri. She opened her mouth, but then shut it. She turned around and walked out, walking right into her friends. "The guy I'm having sex with is gay," she joked and then walked up to her room.

Millie and Mandy exchanged glances, but shrugged and walked into the commons room.

"Hey guys," they said, sitting down.

"So Sirius…I hear you're into guys now," Mandy said.

"Ugh!" Sirius exclaimed, throwing a pillow at Mandy. The girls giggled, but didn't say anything else on the subject.

"So, did you guys hear what happened to Kylee Marx last weekend at the Quidditch Match?" Sirius asked, trying to change the subject.

"No, what happened?" Millie asked.

"Her robes got tangled up in her broom and tore off…and she wasn't wearing much underneath," Sirius said with a snicker.

"Every guys dream," Mandy mumbled as she watched the guys laugh and James and Sirius high five each other.

"Hey, it's not our fault we happened to be watching the game," Sirius said with a shrug.

"…and had a camera," James added with a chuckle.

"That's _awful_," Mandy said throwing the pillow back at the guys.

It grew quiet, so Millie decided to break the tension. "Hey so Sirius…I think you and Franklin Hefts would make a _great _couple."

"I'm not gay!" Sirius exclaimed and then turned to James. "_He's _the one who kissed me…set _him _up." James couldn't hear what he was saying because he was laughing too hard from Millie's comment.

"Ergh!" Sirius exclaimed, lunging at James, who couldn't do anything because he was having a laughing fit. James drank some water to try and stop himself from laughing.

Kerri walked in then, and sauntered over to them. She put her hands on her hips and said, "Hey Si, are you done being gay? Because I would _really _like to have sex tonight." Water came spurting out of James's nose and mouth as he started laughing again.

"_One kiss! _It was _one _kiss," Sirius exclaimed, throwing his hands up. Kerri walked over to him and kissed Sirius flat on the mouth to shut him up. Sirius stopped for a second to collect his thoughts and then grabbed Kerri's hand. "Let's go."

"It's 9 in the morning!" James shouted after them, but they were too busy hustling out of there to hear. James shook his head and muttered, "Animals."

* * *

Two days later, James and Lily hadn't really seen each other. Lily's been avoiding him because she was embarrassed, and James has been trying to understand the situation.

"Sit _still _Prongs," Sirius said, glancing up from his Muggle Studies essay.

"I'm bored," he pouted.

"When did you guys switch roles?" Remus asked, not bothering to look up from his book. "Usually James is the one telling Sirius to shut up and sit still."

"He didn't say shut up," James noted.

"Shut up Prongs," Sirius said. James slumped down in the couch and sulked.

"You have nothing to do because you're too busy thinking about Lily," Peter claimed, rolling his eyes. "You can't get any work done because all you think about is her."

At the sound of Lily's name, James smiled.

"Did you _have _to mention her Peter?" Remus whined. "Now James is going to be a sick love puppy and Sirius is going to scowl for the next hour."

"Not true!" they both exclaimed. Peter and Remus exchanged glances and chuckled.

Remus shook his head and rolled his eyes, but he went back to reading.

Sirius finished his essay and started waving it around to dry the ink. He glanced over at James who was sitting there with a very small smile on his face, staring up at the ceiling, twiddling his thumbs. Sirius sighed and put down his essay. "Okay Prongs, tell us about the kiss."

"What?" James asked.

"You _know _you've wanted to tell us how wonderful it is to kiss Evans, so go ahead, I'm listening."

Remus turned to Peter. "I think Sirius has gone mad."

James looked excited. "Really?"

"Better hurry up…my moment of niceness is about to pass," Sirius said, rolling his eyes.

James laughed. "Just think about it guys. It's _Lily_. The girl I've wanted since the first day I set foot on platform 9 ¾. And I just _kissed _her. How do you _think _I feel?"

"Well good, now you've kissed her and got it out of your system. Can we move on to the next girl now?" Sirius begged.

James threw a pillow at him. "Moment of niceness has passed huh?"

Sirius paused and shrugged. "I can't control it."

* * *

Lily ran up to her room and slammed the door.

"Lily?" Kerri asked, turning away from her Muggles Studies Essay.

Lily looked at Kerri and murmured, "I hate him."

"Who? Sirius?" Millie asked.

"What?" Lily asked. "_No_, James. Potter. Whatever the hell his name is."

The other three girls exchanged glances that said, this isn't good. "What did he do?"

"He doesn't like me. He's just been trying to kiss me since the first day we met. Now he has, so he can leave me alone," Lily said, falling onto her bed.

"Where did you get a stupid idea like that?" Kerri asked. Lily glared at her. "I mean…where'd you get a very smart, _very _rational idea like that?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "James…and your gay boyfriend."

"Okay _first _of all, he's not gay," Kerri said, glaring Millie and Mandy because she was sure one of them told Lily. "And _second _of all he's not my boyfriend."

"And _third _of all…we're not talking about you," Mandy said.

"Oh," Kerri said. "But I like that topic of conversation."

Millie rolled her eyes and looked back to Lily. "I think you heard them wrong."

"Oh no, I heard them perfectly clear," Lily said. "James got what he's always wanted. That's why he hasn't talked to me for the past two days. Because there's no need for him to pay attention to me anymore."

"Lily," Mandy said calmly. "You haven't seen James for two days because you've been avoiding him."

"Yeah, but you know James," Lily said, sitting up on her bed. "If he cared and wanted to talk to me, he'd find a way. Me avoiding him never stopped him before."

"Lily, I think you should talk to him," Kerri suggested.

"What?" Lily exclaimed. "No way! Look, we're working on our project tomorrow; I'll talk to him them."

"Yeah, but-"

"Oh no," Lily groaned. The girls gave her quizzical looks as to why she was saying oh no, and Lily rolled her eyes as if to say it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I have to work on the project tomorrow. Not only with _one _guy I hate, but with _two _guys I'm not fond of."

"I don't envy you," Mandy said after moments of silence.

>>>>>>>>>>>>


	9. Card Games, Parties, and Sluts

_**Friends First  
Chapter 9 ** _

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Here's my treat to you! I'm happy because my unviersity cancelled classes tomorrow...yay!

Disclaimer: You know what should go here.

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"Okay, let's get this over with," Lily said, coming into the library at the last possible second, without being late. "I've decided on how this is going to work." She turned to Jackson. "You don't talk to me, don't touch me, don't look me way, don't even _acknowledge _me," she turned to James. "And _you_, don't talk to me, don't touch me, don't loo-"

"I think we get it," Jackson muttered.

"Just making sure, you two aren't the smartest people I know," Lily muttered.

"Wait Lily, what did I do? Why are yo-" James asked.

"Okay, that specifically defies rule number one: no talking to me," Lily said immediately. Lily got up from the table to get the books they needed, leaving Jackson and James in the same room.

"What'd you do?" Jackson asked James.

James watched as Lily's disappeared behind the book stacks. "I don't know," he said slowly. He then snapped back to reality. "Why do you care? How about you apply Lily's rules to me too?"

"Whatever," Jackson mumbled. James and Jackson just opened their books and started reading silently. Lily came back to see both of them hovered over their books, doing exactly as they were told: not acknowledging her presence.

Lily sighed and sat down at the table and started reading also. She could feel James's eyes on her every once in awhile, when he glanced up trying to get her attention. But she refused to look up.

* * *

"Well…I think that was a productive day," Lily muttered sarcastically as they all gathered their things up. 

James watched Jackson leave and then immediately started talking to Lily. "Lily, what did I do?"

"Don't talk to me," Lily said firmly.

"I won't if you tell me _why_," James insisted.

"I don't have to tell you anything," Lily snapped.

"Yes you do!" James exclaimed loudly, and then grew red from embarrassment as people looked up from what they were doing to see why he was yelling. He sighed. "We kissed, you avoid me, and now you refuse to talk to me. You're confusing the hell out of me."

"You got what you wanted okay?" Lily said tiredly.

"What are you talking about?"

"I heard you and Black talking."

James stared at her. "Okay I'm _still _lost, can you add more words to these sentences?"

Lily threw her hands up in frustration. "You kissed me. You kissed the girl you've wanted to kiss since you were eleven. So you can stop putting on this nice guy act now because you and I both know that you were only nice to me to get what you wanted. Well guess what? You did. So leave me the hell alone."

"No, Lily-" James started.

"I'm just sorry you didn't get to _screw _me first. That would have earned you extra points with your friends, right? One point if you get a kiss, five points if you get me to kiss back, and twenty points if you screw the pretty redhead," Lily sneered, and then stomped off.

* * *

James walked into the room, looked Sirius straight in the eye and said, "I hate you." 

Sirius glanced over at Remus and Peter who obviously had no clue what he was talking about either.

"Um…can you hate me later?" Sirius asked. "I need to copy your homework."

Remus hit Sirius over the head. "I think he meant to say, why do you hate me?"

"Noooo, if I wanted to know that, I would have asked," Sirius said.

"Lily overheard our conversation the other day," James said to Sirius.

"What conversation?"

"The one when you asked me what it was like kissing Lily, I said it was _Lily, _the girl I've wanted for seven years, and you said well good, you kissed her, now can you move on," James said.

"Oooh, _that _conversation," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "So what does that have to do with why you hate me?"

"Lily overheard and took it the wrong way and now she thinks that I just kissed her because I've been trying to for so long and now that I have, there's no reason for me to stick around and be nice to her," James said, sinking into his bed. "And it's _your _fault because you're the one who told me I should move on to the next girl."

"Well…so?" Sirius said with a shrug. "She's just one more girl to add to the list."

"What list?" James asked.

"The list of girls you've made out with," Sirius said with a shrug.

"I don't _want _her to just be one of those girls," James said.

"Really?"

"_Yes_," James said. "I _like _Lily. I mean, I truly _like _her."

"Really?" Sirius asked.

"_Yes_. I wanted her to be the last girl," James said sadly.

"Really?" Sirius asked. He paused. "Are we talking about the same girl here? Red hair? Tall? Green eyes? Bitchiest girl alive?"

James gave Sirius a death stare. "Okay, I haven't dated a girl for…wow, it's been a long time."

"Six months, two weeks, and three days," Sirius confirmed. Remus, Peter, and James all looked at Sirius in awe. Sirius shrugged. "I just ran into the president of James's fan club."

"Ran into her?" Remus asked, his eyebrows raised. "As in 'you shoved her in a broom closet and made out with her' ran into her? Or as in, 'you brought her back to our room' ran into her?"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "_Neither_."

"Well my _point _is, I haven't dated a girl in six months…didn't you think there was a reason?"

"I figured you ran out of girls you could date," Sirius said with a shrug.

James glared at him. "It's because I've spent these last six months trying to get _Lily _to go out with me."

Sirius sighed. "You really like her huh?"

James nodded.

"Are you sure?"

James looked up at Sirius and nodded once again.

"Isn't there _anyone _else you can like?" Sirius groaned. "Like someone who isn't at the top of my 'kill as soon as murder becomes legal' list?"

James laughed and looked up at Remus and Peter who were just shaking their heads in disbelief.

* * *

It was three days later and Kerri, Millie, and Mandy watched as Lily sat on her bed, reading her Charms book upside down and sighing at least five times every minute. 

"Isn't there something we can do?" Millie whispered to the other two girls.

"Like what?" Kerri asked helplessly. "I never knew she could fall for someone so hard."

"Ugh! I hate him for this," Mandy exclaimed.

"It's not his fault," Millie pointed out. "I mean, you _know _he likes her and wasn't just using her. It's just a matter of making _her _believe that."

"Hey guys?" Lily asked.

The girls jerked their heads up. "Yeah?"

"I'm not deaf."

"Oh." It was dead silent.

"And thanks for caring, but I'm fine. _Really_, I'm fine," Lily insisted.

"Bullshit," Mandy muttered to herself.

"How about we go down to the commons room and play a game?" Kerri suggested. "I'm bored of doing homework."

"You're not_ do_ing homework," Lily pointed out.

"I know…because I'm bored of it," Kerri said.

Lily rolled her eyes. "You weren't doing it because you were too busy talking about me."

"Oh yeah…that too," Kerri said. The girls laughed and took out their exploding snaps cards.

* * *

"Oooh! I am _so _going to win this round!" Kerri cried out, a few hours later as the girls were playing in the commons room. "I'm doing so well!" 

"This sucks, I'm losing," Lily pouted.

"Who cares? I'm winn-" Kerri started before her cards blew up. Kerri stared at them in disbelief.

Lily grinned. "I win!"

"This game sucks," Kerri moped, as Millie and Mandy laughed at her. Lily started cleaning the cards up, and stood up to get cards that flew a few feet away.

"Hey, so are you guys going to the party tonight?" Mandy whispered, looking at Millie and Kerri.

"What party?" Lily asked.

"Oh…" Mandy said slowly, looking up behind her. "Crap."

"Crap?" Lily asked. The other three girls exchanged glances which just made Lily more frustrated. "Okay, why won't you tell me what's going on?"

Mandy hesitated, but then slowly said, "The Marauders are having a party in James's private Head Boy quarter."

"That is _so _not legal!" Lily claimed. "I don't like this at _all_."

"Yeah…I think that may be why you don't know," Kerri said teasingly. "Lily, let them have their fun."

"I'm guessing you are all planning on going," Lily said.

"So, hey, did you hear about what Professor Jinger said today at the end ofclass?" Millie said, trying to change the subject.

"See you tomorrow?" Mandy teased.

"You guys can go to the party, I don't care," Lily said.

"You do care," Kerri said with a smile. "but thanks."

"I mean, asking you to be away from Black for one night?" Lily asked. "Am I _crazy_?"

"Hey! I can stay away," Kerri said with a shrug. "It's not as if I'm boy crazy…oh wow, look at Hunter's body." The girls turned to see Hunter Ridge, a sixth year, with no shirt on. Lily just rolled her eyes at Kerri.

* * *

"How many people did you in_vite?" _Remus shouted to James over the loud music. 

"I only invited you guys, Millie, Mandy and Kerri, and a small group of other people," James exclaimed.

"Oh…" Remus said slowly. He looked around and his eyes stopped on Sirius. "I think I know who may have blabbed to the entire population of Hogwarts."

James groaned and dragged Sirius over to the corner. "So you know any of these people?"

"Of course! There's Jessie, and Miranda, and Misty, and Lori, and K-" Sirius started, pointing to them as he said their names.

"Do you know any _guys_?" James asked.

"Of course!" Sirius exclaimed and then paused. "Um…there's you, and Peter, and Remus."

"Well can you get _rid _of some of these people?" James pleaded.

"You want me to get rid of _girls_?" Sirius gasped in astonishment. "Are you _crazy_?"

"_Sirius_," James warned.

"How about I just get rid of anyone that has short hair?" Sirius suggested.

"So basically you want to get rid of anyone male?" James said. Sirius nodded.

"Yup…starting with you," Sirius said.

"Hey Sirius," Kerri said, coming over and batting her eyelashes.

Sirius gave James a pleading grin. "How 'bout I get rid of the unwanted people later?"

James groaned as he watched Sirius walk away with Kerri.

"How about you try and have some fun Prongs," Peter said, walking up from behind him.

"I know, I know," James said. "I'm the one throwing the party and I'm the party pooper."

"Well…you're definitely the party pooper but I think you lost control of throwing the party the minute you said, 'Sirius, I'm throwing a party.'"

James laughed and couldn't help but be a little jealous as he snuck at peak at Kerri and Sirius dancing.

* * *

A few hours past and Kerri looked over and saw Sirius dancing with a fifth year girl. "Slut," Kerri muttered to herself. 

"What was that?" Mandy asked smugly.

"Nothing," Kerri said quickly.

"Ker, as much as you don't want to admit it, you've fallen for Sirius," Mandy said.

"Have not," Kerri insisted.

"You look like you're about to kill that girl dancing with Sirius," Mandy said.

"All Sirius and I do is have sex…no feelings, no strings attached, nothing weighing us down," Kerri said.

"How would you _know_?" Mandy asked. "You never had 'the conversation.'"

"And I don't _want _to have the conversation."

"Yeah…but I think you have to," Mandy said. "Face it Ker, it's not just about the sex anymore." Mandy and Kerri turned back to look at the fifth year girl dancing. "But I agree with you."

"What?"

"She is a slut."

Kerri smiled at Mandy, but her smile quickly faded as she glanced over to see the girl dancing really close to Sirius…something that Kerri really wished she was doing right now.

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_Review! I love you guys and I'll love you ten times more if you review. In fact, I'm not posting another chapter until I get at least8 reviews...I know, it's blackmail, but that's life. hehe once agian, Happy Valentine's Day!_


	10. Say CHEESE and One Kiss!

_**Friends First  
Chapter10 ** _

This is the LAST chapter! Hope you like it! Thanks to the nine people who reviewed so I would get this chapter up faster.

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Lily curled up in a recliner in the corner of the very empty common room, reading her book. Every few minutes she would look up and tried hard not to cry at how empty the common room was, and how much she felt like a loser for not being at the party.

After getting used to the very quiet and empty common room, the fat lady portrait opened and someone came marching in. Lily jerked her head up and groaned.

Sirius jumped when he saw Lily. He figured everyone was at the party. "Hi."

Lily just looked up, glared at him, and went back to reading her book.

Sirius shrugged and walked up to the boys room to get more food and alcohol for the party. Lily paid no attention to him when he walked back down and left the room…or so she thought.

Sirius was almost out of the common room when he stopped and backtracked. He walked over and stood right in front of Lily.

"Look Black," Lily said, not even bothering to look up. "I don't feel like arguing with you right now so why don't you go away because nothing you say will make me put down this book."

"He really likes you," Sirius said.

Lily closed her book. "What?"

"All he talks about is you. He's throwing a party right now and he's sitting in the corner sulking," Sirius said. "He's _miserable_."

"How much is he paying you?" Lily asked.

"Huh?"

"You haven't liked me since the moment you saw me, you've played a prank on me at least once a day since the first day of first year, you've ridiculed me, you've yelled at me, you've called me names, and you've made my life a living hell," Lily justified. "And now you're standing in front of doing something _nice_and you want me to believe you're doingit willingly.What the hell is up?"

"When you say things like that, you make me look like a horrible person," Sirius said. Lily gave him a look. "Okay, okay, so I _am _a horrible person."

"Whoa, he must be paying you a _lot_," Lily muttered.

"What are you talking about?" Sirius asked.

"You did something nice for me _and _talked bad about yourself in the same minute," Lily said. "Obviously you're being paid…or you've been abducted by aliens."

"Lily…may I call you Lily?" Sirius asked.

"No."

"Okay," Sirius said. "Lily…" Lily rolled her eyes. "...he likes you. It's my fault you think he doesn't. You overheard that conversation wrong. I was just joking…" Lily raised her eyebrows. "…sort of. You have to talk to him because I am _tired _of hearing him talk about you."

"Okay," Lily said.

"Okay?" Sirius asked quizzically.

"Okay."

"Is that an 'okay I'll talk to him' okay? Or is it more like an 'okay, but stay out of the bedroom tonight' okay?"

Lily hit Sirius over the head with her book.

"That's an okay, I'll think about it but leave me alone before I change my mind," Lily said with a slight smile.

Sirius laughed and started leaving, but stopped abruptly.

"Hey Evans?" Sirius asked. Lily smiled at the sound of her last name.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry," he said. "…about everything."

Lily smiled. "I know."

Sirius smiled back and turned to see Kerri standing in the entrance with Millie.

Kerri turned her head to Millie and whispered teasingly, "Oh great, now that he's stopped being gay, he's moved on to other girls. And not just other girls…girls he _hates_."

Sirius laughed at her comment, kissed her on the lips, and handed her some alcohol to carry down to the room.

* * *

"Ugh, whose idea was it to have this party and invite tons of people who make a mess like this?" Sirius asked several hours later, groaning at the bottles and food all over the floor. James, Remus, Peter, Kerri, Mandy, and Millie all turned their heads and gave Sirius a glare. "Oh…me?" 

James threw an empty beer can at Sirius and continued picking up trash.

"So Prongs, I noticed you started having fun towards the end," Remus said from across the room.

James shrugged. "I realized that I was ruining my reputation by standing in the corner."

"Oh right sure," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

James rolled his eyes and walked to the other side of the room to empty the trash. He picked up a beer can on the way over there, but stopped and looked up when another pair of hands grabbed the can also.

"Need any help?" the voice asked.

James looked up and smiled widely. "I guess so."

Lily smiled back, picked up the can, and tossed it in the garbage.

Sirius looked over and saw Lily and James smiling at each other. He smiled secretly to himself. Kerri came over and put her arm around his waist. "You know, you're really sweet."

"What?"

Kerri smiled. "I overheard you talking to Lily in the common room earlier."

"I didn't do that to be sweet," Sirius argued. "I did it because I'm tired of hearing James complain."

"Say what you want," Kerri said with a shrug. "It was sweet."

Sirius turned and faced Kerri. "We need to talk."

"Talk?" Kerri said. "Can't we skip that part and go straight to sex."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "We need to talk about what we are."

"You mean have 'the conversation," Kerri stated. "Now, that's no fair. A girl should be forewarned at _least _a week before the guy wants to have the conversation. I haven't had time to think about what I'm going to say."

"C'mon Ker," Sirius said.

"I thought you were the kind of guy who didn't want to have the conversation," Kerri said. "I thought you were a cool guy."

"I am…but our relationship has gotten too complicated," Sirius said.

"Well I don't want to have the conversation," Kerri said.

"Kerri, it's not fair to either of us if-"

"Who cares about fair?" Kerri interrupted.

"Ker, wecan't just keep on acting like there's no-"

"I _said_ I didn't want to have the conversation and I _mean_ that," Kerri said harshly and thenstomped off and started picking trash up from the other side of the room.

Sirius ran his fingers through his hair, obviously frustrated.

"What's wrong with Kerri?" Mandy asked Sirius, noticing that Kerri had stormed off.

"I'm not sure," Sirius said slowly. "I mean, I just brought up the topic of us, and she completely freaked out."

"Oooh," Mandy said, obviously understanding why Kerri was mad.

"Wait, do you know why she's like that?" Sirius asked.

Mandy shrugged.

"Mandy, _please _tell me why she's angry because I want to have the conversation," Sirius pleaded.

Mandy looked up at a desperate Sirius. "You're an idiot, you know that right?"

"Of course," Sirius said, "But that doesn't help me get any closer to understanding why Kerri's angry right now."

"Why do you _think,_ Sirius? All you have to do is sit down and think or two seconds about why she's scared to have the conversation." She saw that Sirius still had a blank look on his face. "She's afraid you'll say something that will _hurt_, like you don't like her and you only use her for sex." Mandy sighed and walked away.

Sirius looked over at Kerri who was slumped down in a chair in the corner. Sirius sighed and walked over to her.

"Look, I didn't mean to get angry before, I don't even know why I got angry," Kerri said defensively.

"I think this whole having sex and not having feelings for each other thing isn't work," Sirius said, diving right into 'the conversation.'

"Yeah, I know, we should stop. It was stupid to think it could last anyway. You can't have sex and not have feelings for each other. Eventually, it just stops being fair to the other person," Kerri said immediately, not meaning a word of what she was saying.

"No, I mean it's not working because feelings are starting to form," Sirius said.

Kerri looked at him suspiciously. "What?"

"It's not working for me because I have feelings for you," Sirius restated.

"What?"

"Feelings?" Sirius asked. "You know, those things you get when you like someone…wow, has it really been so long since you've been with a guy you've had feelings for that you forgot what the definition is?"

"Ouch," Kerri muttered.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that," Sirius said.

Kerri shrugged at his apology. "I _know _what feelings are, I just didn't know if I heard you right."

A small grin crept upon Sirius's face, "You heard me right."

Kerri got out of the chair and kissed Sirius passionately. "Good," Kerri said, kissing Sirius again. "because I would have kicked your ass if you hurt me."

"Is that right?" Sirius questioned. Kerri laughed and pulled Sirius into the chair with her.

"Okay love birds, you making out in front of us isn't getting this cleaning process go any faster!" Remus exclaimed.

"Yeah…but it's more fun to make out," Sirius said. "And there's an added bonus: we annoy you by doing so." Sirius ducked as a soda can came flying at him.

* * *

"We've been cleaning for hours," Lily moaned. 

"Then let's take a break," James suggested, sitting down on the bed. Lily shrugged and sat down beside him. "What made you change your mind?"

"Hello, I'm fine, how are you?" Lily teased. James gave her a look so Lily answered the question. "Your best friend."

"Sirius?"

Lily nodded. "He talked to me."

"Sirius?"

"He made me understand that I shouldn't have taken the conversation between you two so seriously."

"Okay, are we still talking about Sirius? Tall guy? Dark hair? Hates your guts?"

Lily laughed. "Yes…he really cares for you."

"I'm not sure if 'cares' is the right word…I think it's more like 'bored of my complaining all the time,'" James said.

"Complaining about what?" Lily asked.

James shrugged. "You. About you not wanting to talk to me. About you thinking I didn't like you."

"Ah, _those _complaints," Lily said. "Well, just ask my best friends. I think they'd say I was a huge complainer as well."

James and Lily smiled at each other. James looked at Lily who smiled ever so slightly so James leaned in and kissed her. Lily kissed him back and when they pulled apart James said, "So…thanks."

Lily laughed and slapped him in the arm. James smiled and leaned in again and just as their lips were about to touch-

"Say CHEESE!" Sirius exclaimed.

There was a bright flash and James and Lily jerked their heads to look at the door to see six pairs of eyes on them, and six people grinning from ear to ear. And Sirius with his thumbs up sign.

"I think we should frame this," Sirius suggested, talking about the picture he just took. "It can hang up above the bed that James and Lily will soon be occupying because we all know that-" but he didn't have time to finish that sentence because he was too busy running from a raging James. Lily's head was still buried in her hands and the other five people came over to sit on the bed.

"I'm best man at the wedding!" they heard Sirius shout as he ran around the room.

"You can't be best man if you're _dead!_" James shouted.

"You wouldn't kill me!" Sirius screamed. "I'd come back and haunt you for the rest of your life…it wouldn't be pretty."

"Stop running away from me!" James exclaimed.

"I have a great idea! We'll frame this picture and it can replace the picture of the Fat Lady!" Sirius cried out.

"SIRIUS!" James cried out.

"You know…I have a feeling this year is going to be the best year ever," Kerri said and then turned to Lily. "We have the greatest boyfriend's in the world huh?"

"At least mine's not gay," Lily joked.

"It was _one _kiss!" Sirius shouted.

"Yup…this will truly be the best year ever," Lily said with a genuine smile.

>>>>>>>>>>>>

_ALL DONE! Tell me what you thought about it...perhaps it will make me post my new story faster!_


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